RWBY Before
by Stravick Ovmahn
Summary: "On this day, nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom, but about the very idea of individualism itself." A single black-ops team against The Great War, simple. Get in, get out, don't die.
1. Chapter 1

" _In our world of constant struggle and survival we learned one rule; Men are expendable."_

The young Senior Command Sergeant Stark Ironwood sat calmly staring out the window of the airship as they crossed the ocean. It was the first time he was leading his own black-ops mission, and his team wasn't nearly as enthused about it as he was. But then again, it wasn't their jobs on the line. Stark began to fumble with his dog tags nervously as he thought about it. This was the ninth year of his mandatory service, one more year before he would be either discharged or accepted into the lifetime role of the military. If he didn't make the cut then he would be forced to work in the city, or worse in the mines. The very idea made Stark shudder.

The oldest member of the team besides Stark was only in his fourth year of enlistment. Far beyond the time he would have to worry about staying or going. Senior Staff Sergeant Lucas Black and trained sniper Stark had never once seen miss his target. For better or worse considering he takes half of his shots drunk.

Lucas handed his sniper rifle off to their mechanical engineer for a quick tune up. Specialist Sergeant Tecaelis Schnee. Serving his second year a mandatory enlistment. A good man, but a little too ambitious for Stark's tastes. Then soldier joined the black ops squad just a few months ago because it promised a promotion upon completion of the mission. The only problem is that none of them knew the mission. Stark was here because he wanted to lead his own team for a promotion so he wouldn't get discharged when his term ended next year. Lucas was assigned to the team and didn't seem to care either way. Tecaelis was the only one to volunteer for a mission he knew nothing about, and that made him a risk.

But he has been good so far, he has made modifications to their weapons to make them function easier. Increased the speed in which the weapons changed form and decreased the recoil on Lucas' rifle. So he at least seemed to know what he was doing.

The plan suddenly shook, causing Stark to snap out of his daydream. He glanced at his watch and realised it was almost time. Stark stood up and grabbed a strap that was attached to the ceiling. He cleared his throat to get everyone's attention and said,

"Listen up you lot, it is time to hear what this whole mission is supposed to be about. Heaven forbid they tell us before we're half way across the ocean." Stark muttered. He banged his fist against the side of the airship and waited. The pilot pressed down on the control panel and an audio message began to play over the intercom.

"This is Brigadier General Amy Goodwitch, the overseeing officer on this mission. As you know the hostilities between Mistral and Vale are reaching a new height. The other day one of our trade ships was shot down when attempting to use the Mistral Trade Route to Vale. Now Vale is calling for our support in their trade embargo of Mistral. We need to know if what exactly Mistral is doing before we risk a war with them.

"Your transport will touch down on the northern coast of Mistral in a location known as 'Crook of the Dragon's Neck'. From this location, you will travel south for seventeen miles to one of Mistral's radio network relays. You are to eliminate any personnel within the facility that would stop you from reaching their records. You must obtain information on their hostilities with Vale and investigate the claim that Mistal assassinated the last Queen of Vale. Your extraction point will be ten miles due east of you drop off location. A new transport will go past the area once every five days looking for you.

"Alternatively, there is a small settlement in the cliff's northeast of the location of their radio relay. One of our agents, a man by the name of Elic is being held, prisoner. He is a powerful aura user and a good soldier. If you retrieve him your promised promotions maybe be even higher or accompanied by a pay raise." There was a pause in her speech and the team looked at each other. Tecaelis gave a sarcastic smirk and raised an eyebrow at Stark, who frowned.

"Officially team STL," Stark was unsure if it was supposed to be 'steel' or a joke by naming them 'steal', "is a Grimm control team. If you are caught all records of you a burned and you go down as a rogue team. That being said, I wish you the best of luck on your mission and hope to see you all in a week or two." The recording ended with a sharp click, followed by the pilot switching the intercom to broadcast his voice.

"Ten minutes until we land sir."

"Good," Stark said as he sank down into his seat. "Right everyone, saddle up and get ready." Tecaelis snorted and shrugged on his pack. Lucas rolled his eyes and lit a cigarette. Stark regarded them cooly and pulled out his rifle. It was a plain bolt action rifle that packed an enormous about of damage. It was already able to shoot through most armour and through several bodies's after that, but five minutes with Tecaelis and said it could even pierce through the skull of a Goliath. Stark had his doubts about that. He had gone on hunting missions to take down a Goliath pack, he doubted if Tecaelis had ever even seen one.

Lucas wiped his sniper rifle clean and studied it carefully. He didn't trust whatever it was Tecaelis did to it, but he couldn't see anything wrong with it on a surface level. He levelled it out the window and looked through the scope. The sniper rifle was long and completely black with a little bit of red colouring. It was incredibly heavy and thick enough to make it difficult for anyone else to use his weapon. Seeing nothing wrong he shrugged and pushed his aura over it. The mechanisms began to spin and whirl. Within seconds the rifle separated in two, becoming a light submachine gun and a revolver. Lucas sniffed at the submachine gun disdainfully and promptly hooked it on his pack so he wouldn't have to deal with it. He gave his revolver a quick test spin of the chamber and deemed it well enough and holstered it on his hip.

Tecaelis smiled at Stark who had been watching how the two of them got ready and carefully reached into his pack. He pulled out two strange looking devices and clasped them to his arm. The bright metal folded out across his arm and up his shoulder. Tecaelis gave sly smile as he showed off his arm guard, they made a quite robotic noise whenever he moved them.

"Uh, sir." The pilot said. "We have Grimm on the ground in our landing zone." Stark immediately made his way to the cockpit.

"How many?" Stark asked as he elbowed his way through the door.

"About a dozen beowulfs and an Ursa minor." The co-pilot told him. "They appear to be fighting over a fresh kill." Stark frowned.

"Swing the back end around and open the door the hatch, we'll take them out and then you set this bird down, got it?"

"Yes, sir." The co-pilot and pilot said in unison. Stark marched to the back again and checked the clip in his rifle.

"Black, how many shots you got in that pistol there?"

"Ten," he grunted.

"Alright," Stark said in his loud and commanding voice. "Then in ten shots we are jumping out and Schnee can do his thing." Lucas cast a sidelong glance at Tecaelis who winked at him. Lucas frowned and was about to question him when the back hatch opened up and Stark immediately fell to one knee and his rifle jumped up to his shoulder.

BAM!

The first shot from Stark ripped through the Ursa's shoulder. Stark slid back the bolt the empty shell clattered to the ground as a new bullet fell in place. Lucas fired off three round with his pistol, shooting clean through the heads of three beowulfs. Stark fired off another shot. This once glanced off the Ursa's bone armour in a shower of sparks. Stark cursed as he reloaded. Lucas drank from his flask in his free hand then fire four more shots. One by one the beowulfs fell. Stark's next shot went straight through the Ursa's eye and exploded violently out the back of its head. Stark reload his gun and leap out of the ship as Lucas' final shots rang out.

Stark's weapon shifted to a rifle before he even hit the ground, and the white glow of his aura flared before Lucas landed next to him.

A shield as tall as two men and as wide as a car projected from Stark's hand. Three beowulf trashed against it wildly. Another beowulf some had managed to get under the plan. Lucas spun and blew its brains out with even taking a moment to breathe. He then snapped open the revolver to reload.

"I thought you said you only had ten shots," Stark mentioned. Lucas shrugged.

"I like to keep two in the chamber in case one of these assholes sneak up while I'm reloadin'."

"Why two?"

"In case the first one missed."

"I thought you never miss."

"That second bullet has sat in the chamber for a long time." Suddenly a bright flash of silver shot through the remaining Grimm's necks, separating their heads from their bodys. They both looked up to see Tecaelis with a smirk on his face and a red glow around his hands. A cloud of ball bearing floated down towards him and created him a platform he floated down on.

"Every damn kinetic is a bloody show off." Lucas spat.

"You know you're jealous," Tecaelis said as he floated down to them. With a flick of his wrist and a sweep of his arm, his cloud of ball bearings dispersed and disappeared into two of six assorted bottles Tecaelis keeps on him.

"Right, Schnee," Stark said, "I want you to help the ship refuel. Black, you get onto and keep look out."

"Yes sir," Tecaelis said in a lazy fashion and then scurried off towards the ship that was coming into land. Black gave a half-hearted salute and stumbled after Tecaelis.

Stark found himself a clear spot inside the ship. He took out his map and smoothed it against the table. When he looked at where they were, he found a photo covering the spot up. With a thin smile he picked up the photo and looked at his wife and son in it. It was from the time they had visited The Glass Sea in Vacou. Stark suddenly frowned when he remembered his son.

He needed treatment, but he didn't have the money or the right standing for it. Each day he grows sicker and Stark is out doing mission after mission. How long had it been since they had seen each other? A month or two? Four? Six? Stark shook his head. The only way Stravik was going to get the treatment she needed was if he could make officer before she died. Even if all he could make was Privateer it would be enough. He had a year to make it there, if Stravik could just pull through for one more year…

"Er, sir? Are you ready to go?" Tecaelis poked his head into the back of the airship. Stark grumbled and stuffed the map and photo inside his heavy military coat. Tecaelis moved out of his way as Stark made his way outside the engines on the ship roared to life the moment he had stepped off. Stark scan the sky for a brief moment before pointed into the distance.

"We can make it to the cliffs if we move fast. We can set up came there." Lucas furrowed his brow.

"All the way to the cliffs? It will be dark hour for we get there, we'll be stumbling blind in the dark if we try to push that far."

"Then you best start walking," Stark said simply. Lucas held his gaze for a moment then turned away muttering to himself as he reached for his flask. Stark took a deep breath and then began to walk.

* * *

Footnote:

Private

Corpral

Sergeant

Staff Sergeant

Senior Staff Sergeant

Sergeant First-class

Command Sergeant Minor

Senior Command Sergeant

Master Sergeant

Privateer (men only)

2nd Lieutenant

1st Lieutenant

Captain

Over Tenant (Men only)

Major

Lieutenant Colonel (men only)

Colonel

Admiral

Brigadier General

Major General

Lieutenant General

General

Master General


	2. Chapter 2

" _And because of this rule, men made the army's and women made the kingdoms."_

Stark scouted the area by the light of his aura. A thin bubble-like shield surrounded him, casting a faint gold and silver light. The royal colours of The Queen of Mantle. In the darkness, he spotted the glowing eye of some Grimm. Stark immediately dropped low and brought down his shield. An Ursa of some kind he concluded. It was the right size and the only explanation on why it was alone. Stark calmly stalked towards it, watching the glowing eye to get a sense of how fast it was walking forward.

Grimm are attracted to fear, desperation, and sadness. This is something everyone knows about and what most people plan for. But what they don't consider is what other emotions the Grimm can feel. The higher ups only ever think about what brings the Grimm because that is all that concerns them. Why care about the intense feelings of happiness? Grimm only care for those who are afraid right? And it is mostly true unless you're talking about a Goliath.

Grimm can sense all sorts of emotions, but only attack when they sense fear because they equate it to weakness. But something as smart as a Goliath knows that happiness as almost the same as smugness. Goliath's skew everyone's predictions because they attack where people are happy. Places people are sure they're safe. And then suddenly, there are no safe places left. This means nearly nothing to anything smaller than a giant Nevermore and you're not defending a city against a wild attack. But if you're out alone in the woods, just because you're not afraid, doesn't mean the Grimm don't know you're there.

Unless your Stark Ironwood, this information would serve no other purpose but to scare you a little. However, Stark made Sergeant First-Class just before he turned twenty because he knew this. Because he was among a handful of people know a the silver-eyed troops. A person capable of feeling nothing.

As such the Ursa was a beast that relied on its eyesight and ability to sense emotion to know where its prey was at, normally long before its prey know of it. But when its opponent was smart enough to invade its sight and strong enough to not feel anything, it uttered a surprised growl when a spear tore through its jaw and slammed against the top of its skull. Stark pulled his spear out and re-erected his shield. A thin smile played across his lips as he made his way back to camp.

Stark found himself back at camp not too long after his run in with the Ursa. Tecaelis had partially dug into the steep cliffs that protruded from the otherwise flat landscape. With the rocks he had removed he built a makeshift wall just short of a meter tall. Enough to keep their campfire hidden. It was their first and only campfire. Once they're in the cliffs, they're in Mistral's domain and a warm fire is too much of a risk.

"Don't stop talking on my account," Stark said as he entered the unusually quiet campsite. Tecaelis was huddled around the fire fiddling with something that looked vaguely like a robotic leg. If that leg had been crushed once or twice. Lucas was lying on his back, smoking as he stared up at the sky. To took out his cigarette to answer him,

"Is this the part where we all talk about our lives before the enlistment. You expect us to be that buddy-buddy after two days of knowing each other?" Stark shrugged and took a seat by the fire.

"I don't see why a not, we are going to go through a lot of nights like this anyway, might as well pass the time somehow." Lucas cast a side glance and him and took another puff of his cigarette. Stark stared at him for a moment in silence. When no one else said anything, Stark stated,

"My father was a miner down in the pits. Was the lucky man to get picked by the foreman for a special task to oversee a special mining project. During that time the personal assistant of the Royal Treasurer found him and took a liking to the man. Got him one of those nice soft jobs moving boxes in an office building."

"My father was the Overseer on the northern scouting camp," Tecaelis said without so much as a pause from the end of Stark's story. "My mother was the daughter of one of those noble women in charge of the northern region." Tecaelis smiled as he gave his screwdriver another twist. "Heh, my father always told me my mother would get me out of the enlistment, maybe even set me up with taking the entrance exam for those hunters. But then some cousin of The Queen start asking for some land around the time The Queen needed to declare another colony mission. And you know how those Royal's are, the scouting regiments are always the first to go on those missions. They sent him and his men out to The Talons ten years ago and haven't heard from him since." Lucas snorted.

"You were going to try to be a hunter?" He asked. "The way I hear it is that the last man they let in their ranks was twenty years ago, and that was only because he was The Queen's grandchild or some em' like that."

"Then how about you?" Stark prodded. "What's your story?" Lucas rolled his eyes and sat up.

"Nothing special. My father was a whore, one of those livestock men The Royals keep around. My mother had him locked away for getting her pregnant and pretty much ignored me till it came time for me to enlist."

"No father," Stark said, "That has to be rough."

"Hardly," Lucas snorted. "I have more of a choice after enlistment than you fools do." Stark and Tecaelis glanced at each other. "Now if y'all's circle time over over, I'm gonna turn in for the night." Lucas dashed his cigarette and laid back down, turning his back to the fire. Apparently, that counted as 'turning in'. Tecaelis went back to focusing on the robotic appendage. With nothing else to say or no reason to say it, Stark frowned at them and walked away. At least he could pass the time by patrolling the area for more Grimm. The creatures were nothing if not persistent. Or rather, nothing if not numerous.

Thousands of miles away over the sea in a dark corner of Vale, Michael Arc was strapped down to a table while dozens of women scientists ran about the lab double checking everything. Michael waited patiently like this was nothing new, because, in truth, it wasn't.

"Hello, Mr. Arc." A pleasant voice said. Michael looked up to see a woman with blonde hair, a clipboard, and a lab coat standing in front of him. "I am Dr. Ion and I am going to be running you through today's procedure." She motioned to an assistant standing nearby. The shy looking girl brought up a small brown case. Dr. Ion opened the case to reveal a couple dozen dull grey rings. "Are you aware of what these are Mr. Arc?" Michael nodded his head as best he could in the restraints.

"Those are the rings the hunters always wear are they?" Dr. Ion smiled.

"Yes exactly. And I'm sure you're aware of what they do, correct?"

"Uh, don't they make someone stronger?"

"In a sense. They increase the power of someone's aura as well as give them a finer control over it." She reached into the box and pulled out another ring, this one had a different design across its face. "These rings increase the speed at which one's aura regenerates. No one knows how these work, or even who created them, but we have recreated them countless times." Dr. Ion returned the ring to the case.

"We have discovered," Dr. Ion continued, "That aura tends to travel across the body in special ways. We are going to trace your aura pathways and implant these rings in special locations that we believe the aura is pooling or being released from."

"Okay…" Michael said slowly.

"The issue is how we are going to map the path your aura takes. The implant in the back of your neck plays a vital role." A small circular disk that was attached to the base of his neck was hooked into something her couldn't see. Some sort of wire or cord as far as he could tell. "You see, while we were talking we have been talking, we have poured thunder Dust down your spinal cord and up you brain stem. We are going activate this Dust to stimulate your entire nervous system, which will, in turn, give us a clear few of your body's systems. Then as the Dust continues your aura should activate." Michael nodded sullenly. It sounded… unpleasant. "And there is one more issue. Aura can be a fickle thing, it doesn't always present in the same ways twice, so we are going to have to do this test a few dozen times to determine the common places your aura always passes by." Michael visibly paled but before he could say anything the doctor spun on her heels and shouted something at the team of scientist.

There was a slight buzz in the back of his head. His right hand twitched. Suddenly every muscle in his body pulled tight. And then the screaming started.

Stark led them crouching through tall weeds and grass as they made their way through the entrance of the canyon. The Grimm grew more sparse as the approached and by now they haven't seen one for hours. Suddenly Stark froze in place and waited a moment. He motioned them to move left dropped to his stomach. They moved as silently as they could through the brush for a few meters. Stark went back to a crouching stance and they continued until they were hugging face of the cliff.

"Black, you're up." Stark motioned him forward. The sniper grunted something in return and crawled up to the corner and peeked around through his scope.

Around the cliff side was a stout wall stretching the gap between the two cliff faces. Three men in flat grey and black uniforms walked the walls. One of them operated a spotlight with some sort of cannon attached to it. The wall had the claw marks of several types of Grimm across it. Even a few decaying feathers of a Nevermore.

"How many can you take out without them noticing?" Stark asked. Lucas smirked.

"All of them." There was a faint glow from Lucas as his black aura flared up around him and then dimmed to something barely noticeable. He stared through his scope and waited. Nearly a full minute had passed by when Tecaelis opened his mouth to ask what he was waiting for. But he found he wasn't making any noise, he put a hand to his throat in brief panic. Then realised nothing was making noise, not them or the grass. Tecaelis bruised his hand slamming it against the cliff face just to trying and hear something.

Suddenly Lucas fired a shot, and then another, and then another. But his incredibly powerful gun didn't so much a make a pop. It was dead silent when it should have echoed across the cannon. One more shot later and the last man fell, but Lucas didn't move. He waited another thirty seconds and then fired three more shots. Lucas dropped his rifle and his aura and looked to Stark.

"Move up!" Stark said as he rushed into a standing position. Tecaelis summoned out two clouds of metal bits and joined them in the rush forward. Stark immediately threw up a shield, this one was bright gold. "Blind them!" He barked at Lucas. Lucas held up a hand and extremely bright white light burst forward. They ran for the wall and were about at the base when Lucas' light screen faded.

"Schnee, your turn!" Stark felt an odd sensation as the telekinetic power wrapped around him. With one hand Tecaelis was controlling a set of stairs he was walking up, with his other he was carrying the two of them up the wall.

Lucas had his sniper rifle away and his revolver out before he even landed when Tecaelis released him. He hit the ground running and darted down the steps into the main compound. Stark held out his arm to stop Tecaelis from chasing after him. They saw a series of bright flashes down below, but all the sound had disappeared again. After one particularly bright flash, the firing stopped and Lucas emerged, slowly reloading his revolver.

"All clear down there." He said. Then he looked up at Stark. "We stopping for lunch? They were cooking up some ribs down there."


	3. Chapter 3

" _And that is how humanity survived, by sacrificing the men to hold the line and teaching them never to give in. Our kingdoms were built on their iron will."_

Team STL hand killed every person in the radio tower and captured it with an hour of having it in their sights. Stark piled the bodies into one spare closet used as a storage for random supplies. If they had been a team from Vale, they would have been instructed to knock them out and tie them up. If they were a team from Mistral, they would have been ordered to round up the men and take them back to the kingdom to be put to work. If they were a team from Vacou they would have never even come to this foreign land. But no, they were from Mantle. They were cold and they struck without remorse. That is how you survive in Mantle.

No one, particularly in the military, is shocked when they kill someone. It is part the training. It is the reason Mantle has been a fearsome enemy. When the men of Vacou staged a revolt the Queen begged the other kingdoms for help as the revolutionaries took more and more of the kingdom. The Queen of Vale couldn't be bothered to help. The Queen of Mistral couldn't come to an agreement on price. The Queen of Mantle didn't give it a second thought before landing Mantle's famous war machines on Vacou soil.

The Revolutionaries weren't given the respect Mantle gives to enemies that met them with honour. Because they were the poor working class and couldn't afford war machines and uniforms. They could on fight a guerilla war, but Mantle didn't care. They were crushed without pause under the cold might of Mantle, and when they were done. Mantle began purging the Vacou government of those that helped them. And when it was over, the grateful Queen of Vacou found that Mantle had taken much of their Dust, metal, and men. Almost more than what the Queen of Mistral asked for. After that, no one questioned what Mantle was all about. It was a kingdom of resolve.

Tecaelis tore down the radio tower with a great pull off red coloured energy. The massive structure toppled to the ground silently as Lucas robbed it of its sound. And then spent the next five minutes glowing softly as he released the absorbed sound as light.

"How much time until they send someone to investigate?" Stark asked Tecaelis as he sawed through the radio tower for bits of scrap metal.

"From what I saw in the schedule they tacked up, it will be about two hours before they expect another transmission from this tower." As he spoke, Tecaelis spun his finger around in the air; controlling an invisible, telekinetic, circular saw that was cutting through the metal. "Then it will be about and hour before they get around to sending anyone this way. This tower is supposed to send status reports of the nearest town, so eventually, they will send another team to go over that way."

"Black, how much time will take to get to that town?" Lucas looked down at Stark from his perch on top of the radio station. He peered back through his scope for a short time and said,

"A little more than an hour if we don't run into any trouble." Stark nodded.

"Perfect, then we move for the town in half an hour."

"Uh, sir?" Tecaelis asked. "Are you sure you want to go after that prisoner. These kingdom is going to be hot on our tails soon enough." Stark gave a slight grin.

"Sergeant Schnee. We have hit every watchtower, outpost, and checkpoint since the first wall we encountered at the beginning of the canyon. We could have easily floated above or snuck around them, but we took the places out. Because it is the same path we need to take to get out. The moment they discover what happened to the radio station they are going to chase us down the path we cleared and find out we are not there. By the time they realize we haven't left, or at least not the same way we came, we will have snuck into the town and freed our target. And then we go out the way they think they already covered." Tecaelis smirked and went back to cutting away pieces of the tower. There was a certain tone in Stark's voice that Tecaelis had gotten used to when speaking to his commanding officers. It had a certain inflexion that said,

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing." But then again, what would a simple engineer like Tecaelis know about such things.

Stark went through the files with an ever increasing scowl crawling across his face. Tecaelis sat in the corner silently working on his project with intense focus. Every now and then he would look up and grab a piece of scrap metal he had removed from the tower and spent a minute or two pulling and pushing against it with his power until it was shaped to his liking.

When their time was up Lucas came swing in through the window from the roof top. When he saw Stark wasn't near ready he looked rather annoyed.

"I thought we were leavin'?" In response, Stark stood up with a file and began pacing the room with it.

"This doesn't make any sense," he said angrily. "They aren't even hiding the fact that they assassinated The Queen, not to mention other people we didn't even know about. It says here that they are about to go after several targets in Atlas and Vacou too."

"It ain't our job to know why, it was just our job to grab the info a get out. But you have us running across the damn canyon going after some fool that got himself caught."

"There is more," Stark said. "When the last Queen of Mistral died fifteen years ago, it was under mysterious condition. She is practical the only one they don't explicitly say they assassinated."

"So what? Mistral is out to pick a fight with the other kingdoms. Not. Our. Job."

"Enough Black! We will leave when I say so. Sit down, shut up, and listen." Stark tossed the file he was looking at back into the pile. He picked up one file he had discarded before and said, "This is from shortly after the new Queen took power, anything catch your eye?" He tossed the file into Tecaelis' lap, earning dirty looks from Lucas.

"A new form of government?" Tecaelis said with a confused look. And Lucas looked confused. Apparently, that was enough to catch his attention. "But the kingdoms have been working fine for the last hundred or so years. We haven't seen war for generations. And then the new Queen announces she is going to reform that government. That's just… crazy!" Tecaelis studied the file. "She claims 'No longer shall men and faunus be treated differently from the rest of society. No longer shall the other kingdoms get away with their treason against The High Crown,' what the hell is she talking about?"

"I don't know, and why didn't she annoce this to the other kingdoms? This isn't lining up." Stark said slowly as he leafed through another paper. "But I'm sure we'll find out at that town, Newons apparently. It says here that is the location of the largest 'correctional facility'. Any idea what that is?" Lucas and Tecaelis both shook their heads. "And everything gets weirder. They mention sending emissaries there, 'to cleanse them from their encounters in Vale'. They mention marking every faunus across the kingdom, shipping large amounts of people by train, and this word keeps appearing everywhere. 'Collectivization' this goes beyond not making sense. Something is wrong in this kingdom."

"Then we better hurry," Tecaelis said as a look of worry came across his face. "The Wraith Winds are coming."


	4. Chapter 4

" _In the name of survival there is little one won't sacrifice, even if that entails giving their personal freedoms to a system designed to keep them under control."_

There are reasons the four kingdoms are where they are. Mantle is cold, isolated, and hard to get to. It breeds a hardy kind of people. Vacuo is rich in natural resources in a climate that makes it difficult for anything to survive, including weak Grimm. Knowing that what they are sitting on is all they have and knowing that the Grimm are tough enough to survive the desert has made them resourceful, efficient, and full of potential. Vale was a masterpiece. It had everything going in its favour. Mountains, shallow water, warm weather, anything you could want in a kingdom. It gave them a sheltered life, but a good one. And most importantly, massive amounts of farmland. Vale could conceivably have the largest military in the world if it didn't spend over half of it protecting its farmlands against constant Grimm attacks. South of the city of Vale is a monstrous trench designed to act as the last defense against a stampede of Grimm. But there are some accounts of the Grimm coming in such masses that their bodies filled the gap and made a bridge for the other Grimm. After that trench is where the farmland starts, and it goes on for miles. And a person could blindly throw a stone and stand at having one-third of a chance of hitting a soldier with it.

But Mistral is a different story entirely. They found refuge of an entirely different sort. When people found themselves in Mistral they found The Wraith Corridor. Hundreds of kilometres of cliff cut out from the Mistral Plateau. From the Crook of the Dragon's Neck down, past Malevolence Coast, all the way down into the Scorched Lands before it abruptly stopped half way through. The people of Mistral had found the perfect refuge for themselves.

The only issue being the Wraith winds.

Every few hours, at random intervals, massive winds blow through the corridor at incredibly high speeds. Everything and anyone caught in its path are swept up into the current and carried a few hundred miles until you are either bashed too many times against the cliff, cut to pieces from other flying debris, or ejected out the other side. If the wind blows in your favour, you might land safely at The Crook of the Dragon's Neck, and then you just have to fight your way through Grimm to make it back. But the wind might just as easily carry you to The Scorched Lands. No one returns from the scorched lands.

It made them a quick-thinking people. The winds could start or stop at any time, the longest being three days. Stand too close to the edge and you're gone. Leave a window open in just the right room in just the right house and you're gone. Walk on a particularly high spot on the ground, and you're gone. Jump and you're gone.

But the winds were as much a saving grace as they were damnation. All manner of flying Grimm are completely torn apart. Sometimes a larger land Grimm might get pulled in, and as soon as the wind stops they are crushed by both sides of the cliff firing on them.

In time the people of Mistral found more and more issues with their land. For one, most dwellings are carved in cliffs and those that aren't are built into valleys in the above Plateau. Those sparse valleys are the only source of farming Mistral has, and while the deafening winds of the high Plateau keeps them safe from most flying and small Grimm it doesn't stop a Goliath or Grumunds. And on rare occasion, a pack of Harpies fly down and attacking a village. Yet despite that, Mistral has managed to spread further than any other kingdom. They sell all the displaced stone to Vale, who uses it to make walls for their farms, that makes food that is sold back to Mistral.

And so it happens that team STL was caught walking in the Wraith Winds on their way to one of these valleys. And they were not prepared. Low to the ground, the winds weren't so bad. But the debris kicked up from it all would tear a person apart instantly. Stark was able to put up a shield for a time, but it was unexpected when a beowulf crashed into it.

Stark grunted under the force of it as it practically exploded against his shield. Suddenly, Nevermore feathers clattered against it. The team moved as fast as they could across the canyon bottom, but Stark couldn't keep the shield up forever.

Lucas held his pistol ready. Tecaelis waved his hand wildly as he tried to push away waved of shrapnel with his semblance. When they weren't looking, Stark pulled out a blue Dust crystal and pressed it to his chest. His golden shield had a touch of blue to, but no one really noticed.

What they did notice was the Ursa major that crashed into the shield. Stark stumbled and the shield went down for an instance. In a split second Lucas had fired ten rounds straight into the beast's chest, all in the exact same spot. By the fifth bullet the hole had punched through the other side. Stark held up his spear, but Tecaelis beat him to the punch. Literally, as the mechanism on his arms whirled and he punched the Ursa across the face. It's bone plates shattered, yet it only seemed mildly annoyed. Tecaelis punched it three more times, each time his fist seemed to cause it to shake and hesitate. Suddenly Stark's spear passed through its eye, out the other side, and stopped only when it hit a small shield behind the Ursa. The creature collapsed to the ground with a growl and began to smoke. Stark threw up a new shield with renewed strength and began pulling sharp pieces of metal and rock out of his clothing. They practically ran the rest of the way.

The Wraith winds had ended when they were about halfway up on the left face of the cliff. They tucked themselves into a little safe hole carved out for anyone who might be travelling the cliffside path wind the winds kicked in. They watched with fascination as the Mistral settlement could be seen purging the ground from kilometres away. As soon as the winds had stopped, bullets and fire filled the canyon bed as everyone capable of holding a gun fired on any Grimm that had made it in. It only took a few seconds, and then the scavengers came out and began picking the canyon bed clean of any and all metal.

Mistral's hunger for ore was insatiable. Even though they live their lives in carved out piece of the cliffs, those cliffs had been stripped clean of anything of value long ago. Mistral had to make up for its inconvenient location, and they did it with industry.

There was an old saying, 'If you want food, you go to Vale. If you want Dust tech, you go to Mantle. If you want something built, you go Mistral. If you want the materials to do the first three, you go to Vacou.' For the moment, Vacou has all the best materials available to them. Even the largest Dust mine. There have been some locations on Mantle thought to have a lot of Dust, but for the moment they were inaccessible.

This led to a stable system. Raw materials came from Vacou, technology came from Mantle, food came from Vale, and machines came from Mistral. But there was a smaller system in place most people didn't know about. Mistral has little open space and high security. Vale has lots of open space and is constantly subject to roaming Grimm. So as Mistral cuts out more room for itself, thousands of pound of stone is shipped to Vale. In return, Mistral gets first pick of each season's crop and Vale gets the never ending project of building hundreds of kilometres of wall around plots of farmland. Recent estimates expect it to take only another one-hundred and seventy years, depending on how active the Grimm stay.

Mantle makes the engines for Mistral's machines in return for stone and fish from The Lake of Malevolence. Vacou provides the Dust and ore in return for some of these machines. There were at least a dozen or more trading deals across the kingdoms, even more if you consider trading amongst individual villages.

It was part of this trading system that made Mistral really good at finding metal. It took two full minutes for the scavengers to pick up every last piece of metal that was even remotely useful. Seconds after that and skyhauls floated in and picked up anything too large to carry.

Stark led them out of the safe hole as soon as everyone had returned to their homes. They only made it a few meters before the cliff side took a suddenly turn left and head towards a new town in the distance. Stark stopped them and crouched down around the corner. Across the way was a tunnel. Stark held out his hand and Tecaelis pressed a map into it. A few minutes of looking and then Stark said,

"The place we are looking for is straight ahead, one of the villages made in a crevice in the surface. Black, see if you can see any path there, check the tunnel too." Lucas grunted and moved into position.

"That tunnel is crawling with Mistral people and soldiers. I think even a few hunters." Lucas said as he peered through his rifle scope. Stark frowned.

"Is there any other way?" Lucas swivelled his rifle around and peered across.

"I don't see nothin."

"And there isn't anything on the map." Tecaelis said. Stark's frowned deepened and he stroked his chin.

"What about paths to the surface."

"You want to go up there?" Tecaelis asked incredulously. "We barely made through the normal Wraith winds. But if we go up there will be shredded in an instance."

"I don't think so, look." Stark pointed upward. "Clear skies, no shrapnel. And there doesn't appear and Grimm."

"Because even a Beowulf is smart enough to avoid going up there." Tecaelis mumbled.

"Hey, I've got something." Lucas moved away from away the scope and let Stark peer through it. On the other side of the curved mountain, there was a short steep wall with handholds carved into it. A few meters up the rock wall ended and a small path went up the rest of the way, before ending on the impossibly flat plateau. Stark moved away from the rifle and considered it. "They have started up the alarm." Stark nodded.

"Wait, how can you know that?" Tecaelis asked him. He shrugged.

"I can hear it." Stark chuckled.

"Lucas can use his semblance of absorbing sound as a way to hear things, even over extremely large distances."

"So what is normal hearing like for you?"

"I wouldn't know." Stark chuckled again.

"Black was born deaf until he got his hearing." Stark then frowned. "If they already have the alarm up they'll be after us soon.

"Let's move quickly then. We'll eat once we make up top, and we can make the town just as they start looking for us." Tecaelis rolled his eyes.

"At this rate we'll never make it back in time for The Pickings." Lucas grunted his agreement. Stark stared at the two of them.

"You mean you haven't been picked yet?" Tecaelis shrugged.

"Not yet, a bit too young."

"I've been Picked a few times," Lucas grumbled, "They always return me though. One time I was picked by someone from Vale, only they returned me too. Apparently, I drank too much alcohol for their liking." Lucas drank from his flask as he thought about it. Stark laughed at them all. Apparently, they were all younger than he gave them credit for.

Stark held out his hand and a wide shield laid down, stretching from where they were and to the other side of the bend. Just a few meters, but it saved them and hour of walking and avoiding anyone that might be travelling the road. Tecaelis and Lucas stole across as fast as they could make it. Stark was a bit surprised at the strength Tecaelis struck his shield, but he noticed the mechanical leg brace he was wearing on each leg.

Stark took a deep breath and started his walk across. About halfway across he nearly slipped and dropped the shield. He added his other hand to generating the shield and a sweat appeared across his forehead. To the other two, it looked like he was lifting an enormous weight. Discreetly, Stark felt telekinetic force lift his heavy packs off him just enough for them not to weigh anything. Stark gave Tecaelis a glance, just a glance because after all, he was his superior.

Stark had two shields, one allows bullets to pass through and one that doesn't. The issue is that the bullet stopping shield takes a lot of energy, and doesn't allow bullets to come through either side. It was also the only shield that could stop little pebbles from striking them every few seconds.

"There… shouldn't be this many Grimm." Stark grunted, the light from his hands were fading. Every few seconds the shield would flicker under the strain of keeping the wind and rocks out. Tecaelis had taking out his military rifle and was attempting to time his shots in between the shield flickers. Lucas was having much better luck with his revolver. The shield would flicker for a moment and he would fire two or three shots. Each one blasted a hole in the eyes of a Grunt. Stout little Grimm that looked like a deflated ball had grown four legs and ran at them like spiders. Lucas went to reload and then suddenly a creature leaped up onto the shield and caused into collapse. Stark grunted as he attempted to throw up a new one. He failed.

Suddenly a few dozen more Grunts came out of nowhere charging them. But, STL was technically a Grimm control team. It took on second for Lucas to drop ten Grunts with ten bullets before he had to reload. Tecaelis waved his arms and metal ball bearings went cutting through them. Suddenly Stark charged toward the remaining Grunts. He threw his spear into one of them, causing it to stick out of its head. He then forcefully tore the spear back out and spun around, his weapon now his rifle. He fired rapidly before switching back to a spear.

His team watched with a little bit of amusement as Stark rampaged over the remaining Grunts. He stabbed, shot, tore, swore, and ripped them apart until they're weren't any Grunts left in one piece. Stark gave the two of them a smile, there was a glint in his silver eyes. He didn't have any more issues with his shield after that.


	5. Chapter 5

_"But eventually survival was no long the main drive of the people, and old traditions are hard to be rid of."_

"What the hell is this?" Was Stark first reaction when approaching Newons. There was really only one word to describe it properly; grey. The buildings were as grey as the smoke rising from the Correctional Facility. The whole village had been built in a large hole in the ground, with only a small wall surrounding it to kept the small amount of Grimm that can survive on the surface outside. It was short enough that all three members of team STL could see right over it at the horror that was Newons.

People were marched in chains down into only what could only be a mine. Soldiers were everywhere, guarding the prisoners. But the most incredible thing was the women chained up with them. A guard shouted an order and everyone scrambled to their assigned location. Some went to what looked like a garden and began frantically pulling weeds. Others ran into a building where they would be followed by guards. The remainder snapped into a line where a person with a clipboard began checking people off. When he went by one, a man bolted for the wall. He nearly made it to, before he was shot in the leg. Two soldiers picked him up and dragged him kicking and screaming in the Correctional Facility. There was a line of children next. First some thirteen-year-olds, then after that they got progressively younger. One girl, about ten by the look at her, was carrying a newborn in her arms and was doing her best to hide it.

They watch as a Mistral Hunter walked forward. She wore a slightly more decorated military uniform and was only recognizable as a Hunter by the large sword tied to her back. Aura engines were still a relatively new invention and only Hunters and Grimm Control units were allowed access to them. The Hunter walked down the line of people and would point to one of them occasionally. They stepped forward and looked down as the Hunter passed by them silently. After a few dozen or so she started pointing at the children. And then the Hunter stopped and looked down at the little girl clutching a child in her arms. Stark could almost feel the Hunter smiling as she pried the baby from the child's arms. The little girl carrying the baby started screaming and slashing at the Hunter. She responded by jerking her chin at some guards. They came by and dragged the girl into the Correctional Facility. As soon as the girl was gone the Hunter twirled her finger in the air and everyone she had selected began to march into the tunnel, going the direction they three of them hand just came from.

Tecaelis looked shaken, Stark was furious, and Lucas was solemn.

"Maybe… Maybe it is a prison town." Tecaelis suggested weakly. Stark shook his head.

"No kingdom has that many criminals. No kingdom puts their woman, men, and children all in the same prison. And besides all that, Newons is a staging area for trips to Vacou. They were one of the largest ports for trade in Mistral and they would never turn that into a prison town. And judging by those Airships and Skycarriers, it still is."

"Are you saying that those people are citizens?" Tecaelis was almost pleading. Lucas swallowed and squeezed his eyes shut.

"So much crying." They all looked at him. "They are crying. Screaming. Pleading. But that place, that facility, is silent until they open the doors. Then… Then I don't know. I have never heard those noises before." Lucas shook his head. "Let's find this guy and get the hell out. Damn, this place is just wrong." Stark took a deep breath and turned back towards the town.

"Okay, so anyone here think this guy is anywhere but the Facility?" They didn't say anything. "Hm, I thought I would be a little older before I went to hell and back."

Tecaelis was able to float them up onto the roof without anyone noticing. Except for the guards on the roof, who soon found they had one bullet more than what their skulls could carry thanks to Lucas. Stark had to smile at that.

"A crack shot sober, drunk, on land, or floating in the air," he muttered. After that, it didn't take long to slip inside. But what was inside was beyond words.

Torture. Torture of every sort and then some. Where there weren't holding cells there were instruments of torture. Some they recognized, and many others they didn't.

Stark found someone standing still at a desk, waiting to be given orders. Lucas kept Stark completely silent as he snuck up behind the man. Calmly, Stark wrapped his arm around the man's throat and pulled him backwards.

"I'm looking for a Mantle soldier recent captured by you people. Can you point me in the right direction." The man's eyes wide.

"That would be a betrayal to the Queen. I can not!" Stark took out his spear and stabbed the man through his leg in the hopes that would make him more… pliable.

"Where is he?"

"I can not betray the Queen's love, for she shall lead us to a new age! The Queen will leave those behind who betray her!" Suddenly a booming voice came down the hallway.

"If that my rescue, kill the fool and get me out of these damn chains! If you're someone else… Die!" Stark dropped the man on the floor and motioned to Lucas. There was a silent flash of a shot as Lucas unloaded a bullet in his skull. Tecaelis floated the body and blood away so it doesn't get found later.

It wasn't long before they found him in a below average cell. It was pretty clear why they put him in the smallest cell possible; because he was the largest man possible. He was a monster made out of pure muscle in the shape of a human. He looked like he would need his own skycarrier just to pick him up off the ground. His thick, massive shoulders pressed against the edges of the cell, and when he flexed the bars bent out of his way. The only reason he was still in the cell at all was the fact that they had used nearly every chain in the goddamned kingdom to hang him from the ceiling.

He gave them a toothy grin as all three of them gaped at him. He had a thick, shiny, black hair that grew down to his shoulders and an equally thick black beard.

"What, do I have something in my teeth." He gave a deep, hearty laugh.

"I would hate to see your mother," Lucas said dryly. The enormous man shot him a look.

"Insulting a man's mother is a dangerous game, one you would dare if I weren't chained to the ceiling."

"True," Lucas said with a nod. "But at the moment, you are chained to the ceiling." There was a pause, and then he began laughing again. Stark swore he could feel the building shake because of it.

"Mantle Command sent us," Stark said cooly. "Are you the man they snagged?" The behemoth smiled.

"I suppose so, I suppose so." The guy tried the rise to his feet, but only managed to lean in closer. "Specialist ShieldBreaker reporting in!"

"You're a Specialist?" Tecaelis asked, doubtful. "What are you a specialist of?"

"Shield Breaking!"

"Right," Tecaelis muttered.

"So, what is your name?" Stark pretended like he sizing the man up. But there was no mistaking his size.

"Elic."

"Elic who?"

"Elic ShieldBreaker!"

"Of course." Stark shook his head. "How did they capture you?" Elic instantly soured.

"The cowards ambushed me with a Hunter that can put people to sleep. Best damn sleep I've had in months!" Suddenly it was hard to tell if he was grateful or annoyed. Lucas rolled his eyes.

"Alright we got him, now let's leave before they find out we're here."

"I cannot do that," Elic said evenly.

"What?! We just went through kilometres of enemy territory that might mean war if caught and you're not coming with us?" Elic shift in his binds.

"I didn't say wouldn't, just not yet. You can't honestly tell me you're okay with what going on here? No, it's wrong in every sense of the word. They spent the last few weeks trying to build a machine large enough to torture me!" He looked at Stark with a calmed level expression. "People come in crying, scream, pleading and they leave without a word, their heads hung low and obeying the guards every order. People die here, but their bodies live on." Stark thought about it for a moment.

"It doesn't matter, this is a command straight from The Queen, she can not be ignored."

"I don't serve the Queen." Tecaelis' eyes went wide and Lucas looked a little uncomfortable. Stark remained unmoved.

"Those are treasonous words."

"Ah, bugger that. I was alive for the last Queen, and I was a kid during The Queen before that. Queens come and go, why should I serve them?"

"Because you're part of the military!" Tecaelis stammered. Stark silence him with a look.

"Tell me something young one, do you serve you squad leader?" Tecaelis glanced at Stark and nodded slowly. "And do you think he severs his superior?" Another nod. "And does that man serve a general?" Another nod. "And who does that general server?"

"The Queen of course."

"And who does The Queen serve?" Tecaelis opened his mouth, then closed it. "Bah, there are good generals and bad generals. They come and go just as much as a Queen does. And knowing what makes a good general is above my pay grade, but I know what makes a good Queen.

"A good Queen serves the kingdom. And so I serve the kingdom too. And so long as I serve the kingdom then either I'm serving the Queen by mistake, or the Queen isn't with serving." Tecaelis didn't know what to say, so instead, he hung his head. Lucas made a point of looking anywhere else. Stark considered Elic thoroughly. What he said made a lot of sense, too much sense. Stark had long since accepted that he served people who served people who served The Queen. But this man was someone serving a cause greater than The Queen.

"Alright, let's go liberate the town."

"You can't be serious," Lucas complained.

"Ironwood sir, we'll be tried for disobeying orders."

"No we will not, we already have taken out several places just to get here, one town won't be hard to add to the list. Now, Schnee cut Elic down. Black, you're with me. I'm going to need someone to keep the Grimm out of the city while we do this." Stark spun his spear and if became a rifle at his shoulder.

"Now everyone, move out." Lucas took a very, very, deep drink from his flask.


	6. Chapter 6

" _For many years, men did as they did before. They endured. They lived with a system that was built against them and settled for what they were given."_

Guards are trained for many things. They are trained to deal with riots, Grimm, and thieves. These guards were trained to train people like they were less than human and to abuse them however they like. But one thing the guard were not trained for was a well armed, well trained, soldier to bust out of the Correctional Facility with a giant project shield that he used to crash his way through every person in his path.

Stark slammed into a group of five guards and turned them into a set of blood stains on the wall behind them. Stark whirled around and fired on every uniform he saw. Almost every bullet caused a head to exploded. One or two guards had their aura unlocked to protect them from his initial shot and immediately opened fire on Stark. That was until Stark had the shield in between the two of them and charged again.

There was a fine pink mist as Stark ran through them. Stark swung his rifle around and blew someone's head into bits before changing it to a spear and throwing it across the way at a guard that had been taking careful aim at him. Stark ran across the ground felt a dozen bullets hitting his blue shield. As he ran, Stark tried to create another shield to crush to men that had been lined up across the open ground. He failed as his aura went dangerously low.

He pulled his spear out of the corpse it had been stuck in and turned its barrel toward the people. A small hole opened up in the shield and shove his rifle through it. Eight shots and six people fell to the ground. A second later Stark's shield dropped and he dove into the building.

There was a guard waiting for him inside, but his puny pistol barely took off what was left of his aura. Stark cracked the butt of his spear across the guard's face and then stabbed the head through the man's neck. When the guard fell over Stark saw a family huddled up on the floor, clutching onto each other for dear life.

"We have failed the Queen," one of them said. "She has come to punish us! Punish us!" The rest of the family began to wail. Stark clenched his fist and his aura flared. He reloaded his rifle and cracked down the door.

His aura absorbed the wave of bullets that greeted him. He fell to one knee and lifted his rifle and began taking them out. The steady stream of bullets began to die as people fell to the ground around him. It only took one bullet for each person this time around. As Stark took a moment to reload and a Dust grenade rolled towards him. Before Stark even had a moment to throw a shield over it, a purple telekinetic field wrapped around it and threw it back.

Tecaelis leapt down from a building as the grenade blew about a group of guards. A cloud of ball bearings and assorted metal floated around him as he ran up to the nearest squad of soldiers. A flick of his wrist and two people lost their heads. A solid wall appeared in front of the soldier and blocked all his bullets. The nearest guard eyes widened until Tecaelis' metal fist burst through the cloud and sent the front of his face out the back.

A guard pressed his shotgun to the back of Tecaelis' head, but a quick shot from Stark caused the soldier's head to explode. Tecaelis nodded to Stark before someone tried to hit him on the head with the butt of his gun. Tecaelis rolled his eyes and threw his elbow backwards. The sheer force of Tecaelis' mechanical limb cause the guard's head, and much of his chest, to go across the ground.

"Where's Elic?" Stark asked as he fell in behind Tecaelis while taking easy shots at the guards.

"Putting his gear on and filling up his Dust injectors." Tecaelis raised his hand high and brought it down, causing a blade a metal to cut through a building guards were holed up in. It collapsed down on top of them.

"Dust injectors? What the hell does he need Dust for, the man is massive!"

"Eh, I wouldn't want to fight him when he is using Dust."

"Nevermind, I'm going to find the rest of these fools." And with that, Stark took off. Tecaelis nodded and stormed off in a direction of his own. Up above, Lucas' rifle was glowing hot as he fired on Grimm. Their number were increasing, Beowulfs and Boarbatusks were stumbling across the windy Plateau. Above a Giant Nevermore Circled just above the jet stream that covered the landscape. When it first appeared, it fired a torrent of sharp feathers down, but the winds blew them out of sight. Lucas grumbled and pulled out a spare flask out of his pack.

Stark burst it the control room and quickly dispatched of the two men working it. They weren't a problem, without the radio tower they took down there was no way for them to get a message back to the capitol. But from the control room he could look out over the town. There was no one in sight. Lucas was cooling his barrel down with a water bottle and Tecaelis was sweeping the area. But otherwise, there was no one.

Stark found a button marked 'intercom' and decided to play a hunch. He pressed the button and leaned into the microphone.

"Everyone come out and line up." The effect was instant. People crawled out of their homes and stood at attention. They looked uneasy. "Your town is free, we are giving it to you." Silence. Not a word, they didn't even look at each other. Stark decide to play another hunch. "The Queen commands you be happy." The people broke in cheering and joyful shouts. Tecaelis looked horrified as the people jump up and desperately tried convince them they were happy. Stark did know what was worse, them pretending to be happy or-

"Stark, we have Goliaths incoming!" Lucas shouted from the roof top. Stark's eyes widened furiously.

"Silence! Get back inside and wait!" The people scrambled to comply as Stark kicked the door off its hinges. "Tecaelis, come with me!" He shouted as he ran out onto the street. A quick glance to see where Lucas was pointing his rifle told him where he needed to go.

Stark climbed over the ridge the town was set in and look out over the flat land. A stampede of thirteen or fourteen Goliaths were charging towards them. Stark clenched his fists and squeezed his eyes shut, and then nothing. Stark's eyes suddenly looked on cold and uncaring.

"Alright, Tecaelis. Here is what we are-" He was cut off by the sound of a massive gunshot. Suddenly a hole the size of a baseball ripped through the lead Goliath and tore out the other side, clipping the Grimm behind it. Tecaelis swallowed and looked behind him.

Lucas' rifle had grown considerably longer and much thinner. The bipod was bolted to the roof and Lucas ejected an extremely large round from the chamber. It fell to the ground with a large clang and a trail of smoke.

"Oh shit, that's an anti-mech rifle." He could almost see Lucas smiling as he loaded another round and blasted a new hole in the next Goliath. Stark grabbed Tecaelis and shook him a little.

"We need to get ready, he only carries ten of those rounds with him. And there are more Goliaths than that." As if to argue this fact, another round glanced off the face plate of one Goliath and pierced through the sides of the two Goliaths standing to the side of it.

"What was that about telekinetics being show offs?" Tecaelis asked dryly. As the Goliaths drew closer the were able to see the hordes of Grimm coming with them. As it turns out, Goliaths are a decent wind breaker judging by the five dozen Beowulf's, twenty Boarbatusks, a handful of Grunts, and a bullish Taurus Grimm.

"Do you have any red Dust?" Stark asked. Tecaelis pulled out his Dust ration. Inside were a few vials of the powdered stuff and three crystals. One blue, one red, one yellow. He took out the crystal and matching vial. Stark took them and pulled out his own set. He slammed the crystals against his chest and poured the powdered stuff down his throat. In both cases, they disappeared as his aura consumed them. There will still two Goliaths charging by the time Lucas fired his remaining anti-mech bullet.

"You take the Goliaths, I got everything else."

"Are you insane you can't-"

"Do it Schnee!" Stark through up a bright red and gold shield of energy and charged like a madman against the Grimm.

There was a single terrifying moment when Stark though his shield might not hold up against the two massive Grimm, Dust infused or not. But as the Goliaths pressed their skulls against the shield, their faces exploded. The Goliaths next out a mangled cry as they were set on fire. Stark turned from them and charged the smaller Grimm as Tecaelis' telekinetic blades and metal saws cut at the Goliaths.

Stark felt strength blossom through him each time a Grimm burned up in his shields fire. He kept charging, putting everything he had in his shield. Beowulfs turned to ash instantly, boarbatusks were more resilient and managed to roll out of the way as Stark continued to steam forward. Some Grunts tried to leap over the shield and took a spearhead in their stomachs. The more Grimm that burned the wider the shield grew, causing it to hit more of them The Taurus head butted the shield with a mighty bullish snort. Stark slammed to a stop as the bull pushed against him, both of its horns drilling into the shield. Fire blasted at its face, but it didn't stop pushing. Suddenly the red ran out as the Dust lost effect and the shield shattered. Stark dodged out of the way as the Taurus stumbled to the ground. The two of them stared each other down for a brief moment. The white and red bone armour was scorched and a new set of eyes grew back in its sockets. It gave a snort and pawed the ground as it stared down Stark. His silver eyes stared at it. The Grimm hesitated as it couldn't detect emotion from the human. All except one; determination.

Stark stabbed and shot a Beowulf and Grunt that decided to charge him at the moment, all without breaking his stare with the bull Grimm.

And then the bull charged, its heavy feet thundering across the ground. Suddenly, its head snapped to the side as a sniper bullet sparked across the bone armour encasing its head. The Grimm turned its eye back forward just in time to see Starks fist, wrapped in a small golden shield, strike its face. A second later and he shoved his rifle underneath the Taurus' neck and unloaded the remaining clip into it. The bull was stunned for only a short second, after which it heaved its massive body and threw Stark off itself.

Stark rolled to his feet, switching to his spear as the Taurus charged. A small shield appeared across the ground, causing the bulls powerful legs to stumble as they broke through it. Stark took the opening and began wailing on its head with a shielded fist, holding his spear in his left hand. The bull looked up at him as its armour cracked and opened its mouth to snarl… letting Stark shove his spear down its throat. He gave it a twist and yanked it out. A thick glob of black goo pulsed on the end it. With a quick flick of his wrist, Stark put a shield in its throat and expanded it until its head burst.

Tecaelis was sweating with the effort of fighting off both Goliaths. To be fair, telekinesis was a pretty distinct advantage to have. Both hands were a blur as he commanded two spinning disks of metal. He was using Dust by now to keep him from burning out, but it was barely enough.

The Goliaths were burned, cracked, and bleeding black ooze. Every few seconds two sniper shots would take out their eyes, letting Tecaelis bare down on them.

Stark reloaded his rifle and charged forward. He ducked under the Grimm and began slicing and stabbing wildly. The Grimm was regenerating fast, fast enough that Stark could pop a pin out of a grenade and shoved it inside its regenerating tissue. Stark dart out from under it and began firing at its face. The Goliath lifted up its trunk and got ready to shoot some boiling liquid at him, and then its guts exploded and it legs buckled. Stark shoved his spear as far into its eye as fast as possible. Even then the Goliath began to get back up, but Stark twisted the spear and yanked out what he could only assume to be the Grimm replacement for a brain.

Stark turned back towards the remaining Grimm which was now the subject of Tecaelis' full attention. All the metal assembled together in the form of a giant thin spear. The Goliath shot boiling black liquid in his direction. Stark threw up a shield a moment before Tecaelis was completely covered in the acidic goo. From behind the shield, Tecaelis managed to shove a spear of metal its trunk. The Grimm let out a screech and charged. Tecaelis paled as his aura failed and he lost control over his metal as the Grimm continued to charge at them.

The Grimm went crashing to the ground as Stark slammed into its side with a massive shield. He raised his spear, but The Goliath began to kick wildly and Stark went flying across the ground. There was a bit of blue light as his aura burned out. Tecaelis let out a shout and brought out a rotary saw made out of pure energy as a last ditch effort brung back the tiniest amount of aura. In the fraction of a second he manifested this weapon, he sawed the Goliath's guts open. And still, the creature tried to get to its feet as it crawled towards Tecaelis.

"Ah, give it up already!" He shouted as he pulled his own submachine gun out and levelled it at the creature. Fire Dust rounds cause a small line of miniature explosions across it.

They had a brief moment to breath when the last one died. Stark got to his feet and casually stabbed the beowulf that had decided to charge him at the moment. Stark and Tecaelis shared a smile as the wind roared around them and they were pelted with small rocks and bits of Grimm. Then Stark frowned.

"What is that noise?" Tecaelis thought for a moment.

"Sounds like Lucas is using his machine gun."

"But he hates his machine gun. He would only use it if-" and then they saw them.

Nearly a hundred woman like Grimm shot down from the sky and wailing. They screeched through one of the few places they didn't have any bone armour, their sharp beaks. Nearly one hundred Harpies, descending from the sky like a could of black death. There was no way they could-

"Die you Harpy bastards! Die!" And then everything exploded.

The thick cloud of Harpys blew apart in an instant as a series of rapid-fire explosions ripped the formation apart like it was paper. In just a few seconds nearly a hundred of one of Mistral's worst Grimm was reduced to something closer to twenty.

Stark had thought Elic was massive before, and he wasn't standing up straight at the time. But even then that was nothing to him now. He was completely clad in thick heavy armour, painted black and green. And the old scratches didn't make it look any less intimidating. He was as tall a short building, and in his hand was a grenade… machinegun. A grenade machine gun that was probably in the largest hands in the world.

"Die you flying bitches!" He shouted as he unleashed a wild spray of grenades in a dozen different directions. Stark didn't expect much trouble after that.


	7. Chapter 7

_"But give it time, and people will begin to realize what is happening around them, and they will question it."_

Elic roared and charged forward, thankfully stopping the flow of grenades. The grenade machine gun became a hammer. Stark could quite tell if that was better or worse. The Harpies didn't seem very pleased about it. They attempted to swarm him, but getting in range of his hammer was not a good idea. Three Harpies turned into black mist and feathers. One of them latched on his back and tried to tear at him through his armour. Elic just grabbed it and threw it on the ground before stepping on it, effectively stomping out its existence.  
"Die!" he shouted again as he chased at a few more of them down the street. They seemed to be getting the message as more and more of them were hammered into black paste. Suddenly the dozen or so that were left took to the skies and began to flee. They made it a little way until sniper shots began picking them out of the sky.  
Suddenly a long shaft of light shot through one of the fleeing Grimm, and it spun into the ground. Stark looked back over and saw Elic holding giant glowing rods of light. He hurled another and another Grimm fell. He drew his hand back and a new rod of light materialized in his hand.  
"Stark!" Tecaelis shouted. Stark whirled around and saw another Goliath charging on their position with a horde of Grunts charging before it. Stark was about to shout his orders at Tecaelis when Elic's thunderous feet came storming up past him.  
"I got it!" He cheered.  
"What are you going to do?" Stark shouted as Elic charged past.  
"I'm going to rip its trunk off and shove it up its ass!" Was the only response he got. It was at that moment Stark realized Elic had put his hammer away.  
Stark had seen Hunters before. He had worked with many Grimm Control Units. But he had never seen anyone of them kill a horde of Grimm by ignoring them. But such was the case when Elic trampled the Grunts under foot as he charged the Goliath. And then he grabbed the Goliath by its tusks. Tecaelis gaped as he manhandled the Goliath as it struggled to free itself from his grasp. Elic laughed like a mad man as he twisted and threw the Goliath on its side.  
"All. Goliaths. Must. Die!" He punched the Grimm in between each word and then keep punching until its skull crumpled like a tin can. Elic straightened up and dusted off his hands and smiled.  
"What the hell is he?" Tecaelis asked incredulously. Unfortunately, a Goliath is probably one of the few creatures that can survive having over half of its head being turned into the inverse shape of Elic's armoured fist. Elic had his back turned when it came to its feet and charged him. Elic stumbled slightly as the Grimm came to an abrupt and violent halt against his back. Apparently annoyed by this, Elic turned around and grabbed the Goliath by its trunk and what was left of its face. And then he tore its trunk off and threw it on its back. Tecaelis turned paled at what he did after that.

* * *

"By Royal command, you are to pick up weapons from the fallen guards and defend the town against Mistral traitors. Don't surrender, and protect it with your lives." As soon as Stark released the button on the intercom system, people grabbed whatever weapons they could get their hands on and began milling about, finding defensive positions. Elic had collapsed the tunnels into the town, so at least for a small time they only way in would be to come over the ridge.  
"They aren't going to last long," Lucas mumbled as they prepared to leave.  
"It doesn't matter," Stark said as he cleaned off his spear. "Dying while fighting what Mistral did to them is all that matters right now."  
"But they aren't fighting because of Mistral did." Tecaelis pointed out. "They don't have enough brain power left for that. They are only fighting because you told them to. And now they are going to die when Mistral comes to put them down, all because you ordered them not to surrender."  
"It was an admirable thing to do," Elic stated in his deep, rumbling voice. "We cannot hold off an entire army, and even if we could it would not reflect well on our Queen. This is why they fight for a noble cause, even if they don't know it."  
"Your telling people to die while we run away."  
"If nothing else it covers out retreat back to extraction," Stark said quietly.  
"And you're okay with this?"  
"Yes Schnee, I am. Death is better than what these people are being put through."  
"And who are you to make that call?"  
"Then one pressing the intercom button," Stark replied simply. Tecaelis frowned but said nothing else.  
Stark nodded. "Then let's move out before they come to see why the town has gone dark." Elic grinned as Stark lead them out of the control room. Before anyone could stop him, he whirled around and fired at the radio tower. One two-second long trigger pull and fifteen explosions later, what was left of the tower collapsed.  
"Just in case," Elic said as he swung the strap of the large gun over his head so the weapon rested on his back. Lucas rolled his eye and drew his revolver. Tecaelis stocked up on scrap metal and maintained the augments he built around his arms. Stark threw up a shield as they went over the ridge and on top the plateau. Elic gave it an amused glance and walked on without it, completely unbothered by the wind.

They ran to the extraction point and cleared the area of Grimm. Unfortunately, they wouldn't be getting out until tomorrow. But hopefully Mistral will have its hands full trying to recapture the town, put radio towers backup, and reinforcing all the defensive points they took down on their way to chase a team that was probably already gone. All and all, it was a pretty productive mission. The bad thing is that Mistral would likely blame this on Vale and tension will increase. But Stark was prepared to do everything he could to get Mantle on the side of Vale. What he saw there…  
"No," Stark said to himself.  
"No?" Tecaelis asked. He was in the middle of cutting a new camp out of the face of the mountain.  
"No, I can't let what is going on here pass. We have to convince the Queen to support Vale and hope we can take down this… thing that has taken over Mistral." Tecaelis said nothing, just nodded and continued defacing the mountain side.  
The first place Tecaelis carved out was a sniper nest high above them. Lucas was having a competition with himself to see what ran out first, bullets, alcohol, or Grimm. So far, Grimm were winning.  
Elic was out smashing things. They could hear his laughter from where they were, normally it was followed by the thump of his hammer. At the very least, he was leaving his mark on the land by bombarding everything that moved with grenades. Or rather, mostly only things that moved.  
When night came, they were able to enjoy a hot meal for the first time since they entered the canyon. Elic found an actual wild boar and brought it back nearly completely intact. Apparently, he thought they way it struggled and tried to tear his guts out hilarious. He held down with on hand so the other could kill it with less explosive methods.  
"So, a telekinetic, and shield maker, and a noise canceller. I have to say, that is one of the more sound Grimm Control units I've seen." Elic said as he bit into a piece of cooked boar.  
"Oh?" Stark asked.  
"Yeah, you lads are missing just one thing," He grinned widely. "A hammer!" At this, Stark raised an eyebrow. "You lot are fine for a stealth mission, but if you actually get deployed to fight Grimm you'll need someone like me." He laughed loudly, Stark would be concerned if he didn't know that Lucas was containing the sound. "You all barely handled those tiny Goliaths. You would have been destroyed if it wasn't for your man hiding behind peashooter."  
"A peashooter that could cut through you," Lucas grumbled.  
Elic laughed and slammed a large fist against his chest, "This chest plate is six inches of Dust and aura reinforced steel. Try shooting through it, I doubt you'll even dent it!" He let out another deep laugh. Apparently, all his laughing was annoying Lucas, perhaps somewhat ironically he liked the quiet. Suddenly Elic quite down and stared at Stark. "Although I wouldn't want to try it against your kind."  
Stark frowned, "My kind?"  
"Of course you silver eyed fighters. You get them same eyes as The Queen's Guard. You lot are some of the strongest damn people I've ever seen."  
Suddenly, Tecaelis jumped into the conversation, "The Queen's Guard? I've heard of them, but nothing about silver eyes."  
Elic stroked his beard in thought, "Hm, you must not have paid attention. Or else Vale schools are better than Mantle's." He shook his head. "A long time ago we realized what the silver eyed people were capable of. And every since any Hunter with silver eyes gets assigned to The Queen's Guard. Meaning all the Hunters daughters get put on The Guard if they become Hunters. The way I hear it some bloodlines are older than the royal bloodline. At least, that is the story in Vale."  
"But what is special about the silver eyes?"  
Elic looked at him like he was crazy, "Are you serious? Ain't no one ever told you about these things?"  
Stark cleared his throat, "It may be that this is one of those subjects The Queen thought inappropriate to teach young men."  
Elic stroked his beard again. "Yes, I can see our Queen doing that." He thought for a moment. "There is actually a lot of debate on what the silver eyes can do. Like I said, they have them long bloodlines and tend to get a lot of results.  
"I hear talk of them being able to stop feeling emotions. And another story of them being able to give shape to their aura. A few people seem to think they gain power as they kill Grimm. I think there may have been one account of one Hunter who absorbed the souls of her enemies." Elic grinned. "I would take all their souls if I had that! Ahem, but the one thing we know for sure is that they are able to make Grimm turn and run." All eyes turned to Stark, who remained impassive. "Surely you heard the stories that Grimm flee from The Queen's Guard. That's because they have some glowing eyes powers that make the Grimm turn and run!"  
"Then they steam roll the bastards." He roared with laughter, "A Hunter able to use operate without restriction! They destroy everything in their path and still come out with barely any aura lost!" Lucas cast a wary eye at Stark. Stark created a bowl out of his shield and began to fry some of his rations in the grease dripping off the boar.  
"Elic," Stark said, "you mentioned you went to school in Vale." Elic stopped laughing and gazed down at him.  
"Yes, my father was a royal paper-pusher until I was done with school. Then me mother arranged for us to live in Mantle where my… talents could be put to better use."  
"You know now that you mention it," Tecaelis asked around a mouthful full of boar. "What were you doing when you got captured? And what about the rest of your team?" Elic smiled down at him and pulled off another piece of boar.  
"I was chasing a Grimm across the ocean." Tecaelis furrowed his eyebrows.  
"That doesn't make sense, the only Grimm that we do that for are-"  
"A Hydra." Tecaelis started, making Elic laugh… again. "When a village is under attack from a herd of Goliaths or Tauros they'll send out a few teams or a squad of Hunters. When a rebellious village gets a Mistral mech, they send out several Hunter teams. When a Hydra pulls up onto the shore, they send every last Hunter and Grimm Control team they can spare.  
"But in any of those cases, they can send one of me."  
Luas rolled his eyes, "Is there anything that you can't fight?"  
Elic stroked his beard, "They insisted on sending a hunter team with me when a Leviathan surface off the coast of Vacou. Didn't help when I got swallowed whole by it."  
"How did you get out?"  
"I blew its throat out. Ain't a single problem I've had I couldn't solve with a grenade." Stark turned away from the conversation they were having, deciding he was going to patrol the area. The moment he was outside the camp they had made the sound died into nothing. Stark gave the camp one look back and allowed himself a moment to think about what was going to happen to Black and Schnee after they return to Mantle. He stopped himself and turned away, now was not the time to think about that.


	8. Chapter 8

_"And so people fought against the Queens of Remnant, but after failing many times over many gave up. Some continued resisting in smaller ways."_

When their airship land Elic was the first to climb inside. He promptly walked to the middle of the ship and sat down on the floor. His legs and shoulder brushed the sides of the ship, but he was able to sit straight up because of it.  
"What happens if the ship is smaller than this?" Tecaelis asked as he climbed in beside the giant.  
"Then I crawl inside on my hands and knees and lay down on the floor," Elic grunted. He shifted to a more comfortable position and the whole ship rocked. Stark banged his spear against the roof to signal to the pilot they were ready. He didn't expect trouble, Mistral would be busy taking back Newons and Grimm would be attracted there, making it even more difficult for Mistral to take the small town.  
"Are you all ready for The Choosing?" The pilot asked through the intercom.  
Stark allowed a smirk, "I got Picked fifteen years ago."  
Tecaelis snorted at him, "This will be my first time going to The Choosing."  
"Damn, how young are you?" Lucas asked rudely. Tecaelis shot him a look.  
"What about you Elic?" Stark asked. "Had any luck with The Choosing?" The massive man stroked his beard in thought.  
"I used to go to them things, but I think I'm just too much man for anyone to handle. I stopped going 'bout three years back and just take the time as leave."  
"My copilot got Picked last year. Tell them about her." The heard some shuffling over the intercom as the pilot hustled his partner. "Ah, Jim is just shy. Got Picked by a Royal."  
Tecaelis' jaw dropped. "A Royal! Like a real inner-circle-of-the-Queen-type Royal?"  
"Ayup, he sure did. Won't talk to me about it, though." There was some murmuring on the other side of the intercom. "Well don't tell me that, tell them." The intercom clicked off as the two of them began bickering.  
"Hey, Stark," Lucas grunted. "You never told us who you got Picked by. You get a hot one?" Stark eyed him warily.  
"She's nice enough."  
"Bah, there ain't no 'nice enough'. Either she's hot or she ain't. She use you as her boy toy or what?" Stark shot him a look.  
"Maybe if you didn't drink like every drop killed a Goliath then you might have your own girl to talk about instead of leeching off others." Lucas scowled and tipped his flask up with his middle finger.

A few hours later and they saw Mantle through the windows of the ship. Even in broad daylight it glowed from the decorations that had been put up for The Choosing. The Hunter academy, the seat of The Queen, was by far the most lavishly decorated and was covered in bustling people as they prepared for the festival tomorrow. Banners for each kingdom were presented high on Atlas Academy's tower. White and blue for Mantle, red and gold for Vacou, grey and purple for Mistral, green and black for Vale. Each banner was facing in the direction of each of the respective kingdoms.  
Stark leaned back into his seat as the airship banked to the side as it came in on the landing pad. The military base was probably one of the few places left in Mantle that wasn't decorated for The Picking. Soldiers walked about making sure that all the security would be in order for tomorrow. The Goliaths tend to act up during the festival and the other Grimm act up when hundreds of people wake up with hangovers and soul-crushing regret.  
But one group was standing still. A group of soldiers standing around their escort, a woman in an elegant dress. She had a large weapon strapped to her side, but the way it was folded up kept Stark from seeing exactly what it was. She was also carrying plenty of Dust. She gave a thin smile as the team left the airship. She had silver eyes.  
Tecaelis immediately looked down to avoid her gaze. Lucas took a sip from yet another flask and looked anywhere but at The Royal Guard. Elic didn't seem to care, judging by how he laughed and greeted her.  
"Hes! I haven't seen you since that Hydra took a bite out of you back there." The Hunter's, apparently Hes, smile became fixed on her face.  
"You all are to report to debriefing, except for squad leader Ironwood."  
Stark stepped forward."And what are my orders?" Stark stood at attention and waited for her response.  
She looked him up and down."The Queen would like to debrief you herself, I've been ordered to take you to her immediately. After you've turned in your weapon."  
Stark gave a curt nod, first to the Royal Guard and then to his team. Elic had already wandered off in the camp and was causing a racket with his laughter elsewhere. Tecaelis and Lucas did not hesitate to get away from the Hunter.  
Stark turned in his weapon, Dust, and any other supplies he might have into the Sergeant Quartermaster and was promptly escorted out of the base. Hes wasted no time guiding him through the city and into Atlas, where he was shoved into an elevator and sent up to the throne room. Again, she hastily guided him all the people and checks until he was in the private throne room.  
When the Queen entered, the atmosphere changed. Everyone, including Stark, fell on one knee and bowed their heads. Stark only caught a glance of her before he had bowed his head to the ground.  
A smooth voice filled the chamber, "Rise."  
Everyone got to their feet and Stark got his first good look at The Queen. She wore a regal dress decorated in the kingdom's colours of white and blue. The bottom of the dress was cut at a sharp angle, revealing a long, smooth leg. Her face was done up in simple, but elegant make-up. Clearly, the intent was to make her as beautiful as possible without distracting with large portions of makeup. He golden earrings matched her stunning golden eyes. Black hair draped down her shoulders as she relaxed back in the throne.  
"Tell me, Stark, what did you find at Mistral." The Queen purred out the words as if trying to coax him to speak. Stark took one step towards her and held his hands behind his back.  
"My Queen, what specifically are you asking for? Or why are you asking, so that I might give a better answer." The Queen considered him for a moment then said,  
"While you were away in Mistral, the tensions between them and Vale have been growing higher and many fear that open hostilities are not far behind. Mistral has been asking for our support if it does come down to that." Stark immediately tensed as the memory of the child being ripped from another child's arms flashed through him.  
"My Queen, if I may be so bold as to speak my mind…"  
"Continue."  
"What I saw in the staging town of Newons… it was the worst thing I have seen in my entire life. People were afraid, abused, and tortured. The entire town had been turned into some portion of hell where the people were in constant fear of their lives."  
The Queen considered him a long moment. "Are there any specifics you could provide?"  
Stark nodded, "When we hit the first radio relay we found that when the most recent Queen took over she began radically reforming the kingdom. Changing the government, the industry, and the people. They had built this 'Correctional Facility' at Newons. I am not sure, but I believe they would torture people that didn't comply with what the soldiers said. Tortured them until they thought they way they wanted them to think." The room had grown silent.  
Slowly the Queen asked, "But the people listened, did they not?" Stark started at The Queen. She was curious, but for all the wrong reasons.  
Stark shook his head, "I had taken control of their intercom system and told the everyone to jump. They jumped without hesitation, without any confusion, with no questions asked. And then I told them to be happy, and they were happy. They didn't just act happy, they were actually happy. So yes, they listened. And they did whatever they were told with every ounce of effort they could put. I saw the torture machines, I saw people getting beaten in the streets, I saw children taken from their homes and getting loaded into a cart taking them to some other terrible place. That is the kingdom I saw." The Queen nodded, not sadly, or surprised, just a simple nod.  
"That is… impressive to be sure. We have reason to believe Newons is a special sort of town under the reforms The Queen had taken. A labour society, I believe they called it." Stark stood with his mouth open, not quite believing she was saying this. "An interesting revelation, that the criminals they put in the labour society would be so devoted to the word of their Queen." Stark continued to stare in disbelief as The Queen spoke wistfully.  
"My Queen, you are not seriously admiring the town, are you?" The Queen shot him a look.  
"Whether I admire it or I despise it is none of your concern. I wouldn't expect you to understand what this means for me or my kingdom." The Queen tapped her fingers against her throne seat. "Mistral has gotten rid of almost its entire homeless population ever since these reforms started. Not to mention that their crime is almost nonexistent as well, so it must be considered the good that these labour societies do. The good sending all the criminals in the kingdom to them would do."  
Slowly, Stark spoke, "My Queen… can a child be a criminal?"  
She blinked and looked down on him, "I suppose…"  
"How about an infant?" Stark stared at her, "I saw infants in this 'labour society' and I doubt they were guilty of any crime. Which makes me doubt the children carrying them, or the noticeably absent parents, were an more guilty."  
The Queen bit her lip and thought. "Well… enough. I have learned what I wanted to know. Now onto you." The Queen quickly slipped out of her annoyed tone and back into her purring voice. "It is a little early yet, so I don't wish the public no know about these revelations just yet. Clearly, being a black-ops mission all of this is classified, but I need you to swear to me not to tell a soul outside this room."  
Stark raised an eyebrow, "My Queen?"  
The Queen smiled, "Normally we can trust that you and your team would keep this a secret, as with all mission you have done. But we need a little extra insurance because of the sensitive information. So, while you were going to be promoted to Master Sergeant and given a pay raise for retrieving ShieldBreaker, I would like to trade you swearing that your team will keep this to themselves in exchange for a larger promotion."  
Stark swallowed, the next rank was Privateer. That would guarantee his place in the military and gave his children some much, but…"You are very generous my Queen, but might I ask why I was called into your Royal presence for such a simple exchange?"  
The Queen frowned, "I needed a first hand account. And you said it yourself, that this was the worst thing you had ever seen. I needed to be sure the situation called for such a measure." The Queen offered him her sweetest smile. "And swearing yourself directly to your Queen tends to make people a bit more true to their word."  
Stark swallowed, "Then I swear that I will not give up a single word of what happened on this mission."  
"And your team?"  
"The Schnee boy is too young and naive, even if he felt the need to tell someone he wouldn't know who. And Black… He likely doesn't care. He only cares about doing his job and nothing else."  
"Mhm, and Elic."  
Stark fixed her with a look, "I get the feeling you have heard enough about Elic to know that he will do as he wishes, regardless of his orders. But so long as he is convinced that keeping this to himself is for the greater good, he should be fine."  
"Good, good. Then by my Royal Authority, I promote you to 2nd Lieutenant, Ironwood, you will be permitted to pick a new weapon at the armoury or order a custom one. You are dismissed." Stark turned to walk away in stunned silence, it was more than he could have hoped for, but still, something was missing. Suddenly he stopped and looked back at The Queen.  
"One more thing, My Queen. Our lives, the people's lives. They are hard no matter where you live. And sometimes the only thing that gives people in solace is the knowledge they come home and listen to a new song, or read a book, or admire a painting. But I didn't see that in Mistral. Not a single painting, and one book, and certainly nothing that could make music. And if you still think that that is a good thing, then I fear for the kingdom."  
"You are dismissed." The Queen replied coldly. Stark nodded and walked out.


	9. Chapter 9

" _So the kingdoms became a hotbed of unrest, and the feeling soon began to climb up society like a vine. Slowly wrapping the higher woman of society in the needs of men."_

Tecaelis looked strained as directed team of other engineers around the base. He looked like he was having a small seizure as he looked between the clipboard and the teams he was a directed.

"You, keep working on the skyhaul that was supposed to be done two days ago! If it isn't done you can forget about going to The Picking. And you over there, quit standing around and help those fools carry in the new aura engines! I need the new designs on my desk. And for gods' stakes if you're standing around find something to do! It's Choosing Day, clean, repair, design, I don't care what you do, do something!" Tecaelis glanced down and checked 'act stressed to make everyone work harder'. Suddenly he spied Stark from the across the mechanic's yard and he beamed at him.

"Ironwood! Or is it Lieutenant now?" Stark raised an amused eyebrow.

"Heard about that did you?" Tecaelis rolled his eyes.

"Hear about it? I got screwed because of it! Promoted to a Commander Specialist on Choosing Day, it has been a nightmare!" Tecaelis couldn't help but smile as the people began moving a bit more frantically around him. "The guy that is supposed to train me is so busy that I have to learn as I go. I knew I was going get promoted, but I mean really this is ridiculous." Stark nodded, seeing and understanding what he was doing.

"Well, it seems like you have it all figured out. " Tecaelis snickered as quietly as he could, but the glanced at the clipboard then shouted at someone to get working.

"Anyway, I guess you came to commission the weapon we were told to make you." Stark nodded.

"That's the one."

"Well, follow me to the back. We keep a display with all the newest weapons and aura engines out for whenever a Hunter wants to swing by for a bit of shopping." Tecaelis led Stark into the back room where several rows of tables had been laid out. The first two had aura engines of different sizes and shapes. The rest of the tables had hundreds of shiny weapons laid out, each came with a tag that labelled the forms.

"What is that?" Stark pointed at an aura engine the size of a baseball, one of the largest on the table. Tecaelis glanced at it.

"You mean the aura steam engine?"

"Aura steam?"

"Yeah, aura engines are great and all, but for some of the most complex weapons and weapons need a bit more of a push, so we throw in a bit of steam power. Actually, it turns out that Elic uses two of them in his hammer and has a dozen more on stand by for repairs." Tecaelis waved his hand and his purple power wrapped around about thirty weapons and floated them over to Stark. "So, I suppose you want a spear like your current weapon?" Stark nodded and looked over the weapons floating around him.

"How many forms can the weapon have." Tecaelis shrugged.

"All these only have two forms, but I can start on a brand new weapon for you. The most forms you could have really depends on how different they all are from each other. That sniper we had with us used a gun with four forms, but they were all guns. And two of them were practically the same, just a bit bigger. If it was only melee weapons you could do four, but you know the rules. You have to have some rapid fire gun, so at best you could have three if you pick the right weapons" Stark nodded as he thought.

"Can you take away the ones with a gun form, I'll focus on that later." Tecaelis nodded and flicked his wrist, sending the guns back. Stark looked over what was left. A few swords, one or two bows, an axe, and a handful others. Stark frowned as he tried to find one he liked, but then he spied something still on the table.

"How about one of these?" Stark said, picking up an unpainted silver mace. Tecaelis scratched his chin.

"A mace spear? Hm, maybe. Would have to make it weigh a bit more, and it wouldn't leave much room for a gun, but maybe…"

"Could I have two separate weapons?" Tecaelis looked surprised.

"I suppose so, what did you have in mind?" Stark stroked his chin and a smug grin grew across his face.

"I have a few thoughts."

Stark moved through the crowd as best he could. Officers had special seating arrangements on the fifth level. The room was a massive octagon shape, and one of Mantle's greatest achievements. During most of the year it was simply Atlas tower, a place where Hunters of different levels and experience could study and pass the time on their specific level of the thirty level room. The top ten levels were only ever used by the teachers and accomplished Hunters. The bottom five were open to all students and going up from there required more and more reputation and skill.

But during events like this, the tower twisted and changed shape. The compartments on the lower floor moved to shrink the large arena floor into a much smaller, but still considerably large, dance floor. The compartments became bars and restaurants, bar stools got set out for anyone who wanted to sit and have their drinks. But in order for the bottom levels to shrink, compartments had to move to the higher levels. And such, each level got progressively bigger until the tower resembled more of a funnel.

Finally, Stark pushed his way to the twentieth floor and found himself stopped by a guard in front of the compartment door. Stark turned and showed the mark of 2nd lieutenant on his uniform. The guard nodded and moved out of his way.

The other officers stared at him as he entered. It was slightly uncommon to see a male officer, but it happened often enough. But most of the time the other officers at least knew who it was, they normally had at least a year of them being a Privateer to harass them into 'their place'. Stark had skipped Privateer and jumped to 2nd lieutenant during The Picking, and they despised him for it. Stark promptly ignored them all and walked to the opened window of the compartment. A serving man came but with a tray of champagne and offered one to Stark. As he reached out for it, the bottom levels began to cheer. Stark turned back to the open compartment window.

Down below the miners and the lumber men stamped their feet, cheering and shouting loudly. The cheering slowly grew across the bottom levels until it felt like the entire tower was shaking.

Suddenly the doors to the tower burst open and a horde of women washed in. Every woman with an office job or better came into the tower now and spilt out on the dance floor. Music to dance to marked their arrival. Woman mingled into the lower levels and men diffused onto the dance floor. The bartenders readied their bottles and their clean glasses.

"Amazing isn't it." A woman's voice said behind him. Stark glanced backwards. The woman wasn't a soldier, which meant she was a Royal. Otherwise, she wouldn't have made it onto the twentieth level.

"Sorry, I've already been Picked." Stark shook the golden band clasped around his wrist. "And believe me, I'd rather be with her right now if I could." The woman laughed and joined him in leaning on the window sill.

"So a woman can't speak to a man during The Choosing unless she is hitting on them?" Stark shrugged. The woman smiled warmly.

"I always love to watch all the women arrive. The festivities don't really start until they do."

"Then why aren't you down there with them?" The woman faked a sigh.

"Alas, I too am bounded by marriage." She dramatically put the back of her hand to her brow, revealing a matching golden bracelet to the one Stark was wearing.

"Mhm," Stark said. He thought for a moment. "I think that this whole celebration is a good show of what is wrong with the kingdoms."

"Oh?"

"Our society is so split, so separated from each other that we needed a damn holiday just to bring us together. Woman and men are so far apart in everything that we needed a holiday just so people can meet with each other. Even in the military women become officers right after basic training." Stark sighed. "But I suppose if it could change it would have. It all comes down to the one rule…"

"Men are expendable." The woman finished. And there it was, the entirety of the kingdom's social structure summed up in one simple rule printed in every text book of the kingdom. The one rule: men are expendable. "You not the first person to think that." The woman said slowly. "In fact, I think there are more people in the aristocracy that would agree with you than you might think." Stark shot her a sidelong glance.

"I don't believe you told me your name."

"Rachel Nikos, I am a Royal in charge of a decent size portion of southern Mantle. I handle a lot of trade with Vale." And moved a bit closer to Stark and softly said. "And only a few people know that I happen to come from Vale originally."

"So what do you want?" Stark wasn't stupid, the Royals didn't come down into the military level for idle chat. And they certainly didn't come to speak to Chosen men, and never do they come to speak to low ranking officers that only just got promoted. She looked like she wanted to deny it anyway but quickly thought better of it.

"I have heard of your recent exploit into Mistral." Rachel slid just a bit closer and lowered her voice further, "You saw it, didn't you." Stark was silent. "Ah, I thought so. I bet The Queen swore you into secrecy and everything."

"Which begs the question, how do you know about it?" After all, black ops mission hardly seemed something that would be made know to just any Royal who asked, let alone one The Queen herself wanted to keep a secret.

"There is a certain someone we both know that requires special armour made to fit his size. We keep him supplied in return for a few stories here and there."

"Elic? A spy?"

"Oh, he would never tell us something that would endanger or threaten the kingdom, no he is too noble for that. But I think you have known him long enough to know when he thinks of that town, what he thinks Vale can do for it."

"I see, and how exactly does you or Vale have a connection with Elic?" Rachel smiled.

"Vale has been… experimenting for a while and his father was part of one of those. We had let him go when the project ended without any results. That was until we learned of Elic. And now we make armour for him in return for information on missions he goes on."

"Hm, that seems like sensitive information. Are you sure you should be telling me about it?" Rachel shrugged.

"It was suggested that I feed you a few little tidbits, to make me more trusting or something like that." She said wistfully. "But I suspect that you don't particularly like The Queen's attitude with Mistral and would agree to the our proposition anyway." Stark gave her his most suspicious glance.

"And that is?"

"There is a package getting ready for transport in the midlands between Vale and Vacuo. Our Queen happens to be the owner. Several teams are being assembled, and as a Grimm Control unit you have the right to sign on for such a mission."

"So you want me to sign on and report what the package is," Stark said plainly. Rachel grinned.

"Oh, my friends are going to love you. I understand that as a lieutenant you get to have a more permanent squad instead of whoever is assigned to you for whenever you have to do a mission. So might I suggest Elic as one person for such a team." Stark mulled it over for a few moment before answering.

"I just got back from a highly dangerous mission that you shouldn't even know about, and you want me to leave during a week's worth Choosing celebrations. I assume your 'friends' sent you with something to entice me with?" Rachel chuckled.

"Oh, they will love you so much. Are you familiar with the somewhat supernatural properties of the silver eyed people, your people." Stark stared pointedly at the dancing below. "Well, in one of Vale's little 'experiments' it was discovered that when the blood of one of those people fell on armour or clothing, that those articles actually absorbed a bit of power from it." Rachel watched him for some reaction. "It was discovered that when wearing these articles of clothing that they would grow slightly stronger with the more Grimm you killed. Ever since we knew the Queen's Guard of Vale have been regularly having their blood draw for further study and use. Slowly we are replacing pieces of Elic's armour with pieces treated in the blood.

"But recently a member of The Queen's Guard died without heirs. And their amour is currently in the possession of my friends. Armour that has been past down through a silver eyed family line for generations. It has seen a lot of blood, and the power always seemed strongest when the blood came from the death of the person wearing it. If you did this for us, we could make sure that armour got into your hands." Stark thought back to the Queen and what she had said. _But the people listened, did they not?_ Stark closed his eyes and said,

"I'll do it."


	10. Chapter 10

" _The kingdoms teetered on an edge, but not one with a safe side to land on. They had two choices, struggle to stay balanced or become the thing that finally pushed them over the edge."_

Stark looked to his left. The street turned and went straight for a while and then curved out of sight. It ran straight into the suburban area and then into the High Hills. His home was located in somewhere between the two. More than the common folk, but not quite High Hills material. Well, maybe some day.

Stark shook his head and turned right to follow Elic. He would go to his family later when this was all sorted. He was a soldier first and a father second. It wasn't a good system, but it was a strong one. Stark looked up at Elic who now wore a thick fur coat. It was black and dark green just like his armour had been, and his thick, bushy beard blended in perfectly the black fur of his coat.

"You have interesting friends, Elic." Stark prodded. Elic gave him a curious sideways glance.

"And what do you know about my friends?" Stark thought about it for a second.

"I know they think they can use what I saw in Mistral against me, and who knows maybe they can." Elic laughed.

"I wouldn't let them catch you saying that! They'll never let you go then!" Stark chuckled softly as Elic thought more about it. "So, what have my 'friends' ask you to do? I doubt they could make a man like you do anything he didn't want to." Stark nodded absently.

"There is a mission that would take me all the way to Vale. The Queen wants something retrieved from there. They want me to take the mission, but then report what it was they were transporting."

"Hm…" Elic stroked his beard. "They have asked me to do that once or twice. But enough about them! What about you? You a lieutenant now! You get to have a permanent squad and for your, heh, 'Grimm Control' missions." Stark rolled his eyes.

"Actually, I was wondering if you were interested in join my team." Elic stopped and turned to face Stark. He stared him down as he spoke.

"Stark, I take my orders very loosely. I do what I think is best for people and only that. There is a reason I am my own unit. I can not and will not fight for someone just obeying the order someone else was ordered to give." Stark met his gaze coolly.

"Elic, I wouldn't have agreed to do this mission for your 'friends' if I wasn't acting on what I thought was best for the kingdom." Elic glared at him suspiciously.

"That is not a sentiment often held by those ambitious enough to make officer, so forgive me if I don't quite believe you."

"I have become an officer for the sake of my sons, just as my wife does for my daughter. And trust me, if The Queen is in anyway thinking what Mistral is doing to its people is a good idea; it isn't going to make life better for my children." Elic glared at him for a minute longer then grumbled,

"I suppose I could give it a go. But the moment you ignored people for the sake of The Queen, I leaving." Stark frowned. Elic was odd, and not just because of his massive size. Everyone, particularly men, is taught The Queen and kingdom were the first things you believed in and fought for. And though most men ignore it and work every day of their lives fighting for themselves, Stark had never encountered someone that made a distinction between the two. Queen and kingdom. Stark guessed most thought The Queen fought for the kingdom on their behalf, but more likely they just didn't think about it.

"So, who else are you bringing on the team?" Elic asked as they rounded a corner together. Stark really didn't know where they were going now, he was just following the massive man in front of him.

"I hadn't really thought much of it. But I think I'll ask Black to join."

"That was the drunken sniper with us right?" Stark nodded.

"He is probably the best shot in all of Mantle, and his semblance makes him invaluable for our particular missions. Past that I really don't know."

"I wouldn't mind having that puny mechanic on our team. He is easy to make fun of." Stark shook his head.

"He has his hands full trying to order around the other mechanics from his new position."

"Ah, but if he signs on to your personal team he'll be relieved of those duties and his rank would be just another reason to salute." Stark rubbed his chin.

"Maybe, I'll consider it." Suddenly Elic stopped in front of a tall building. A hand-painted sign hung on the outside of it saying 'Granny's temporary home for children'. Stark raised an eyebrow at Elic, but he was already ducking down through the double doors.

The receptionist inside smiled at Elic and nodded towards a massive door, and Elic sized door. But even so, Elic still had to duck low to avoid hitting his head. Stark followed with an amused expression.

The moment Elic stepped through that door the air was filled with shrieks of joy and laughter from the other room. Elic chuckled deeply and fell to one knee as more than a dozen children and started to climb all over him like he was some sort of playground. Elic didn't stop laughing as he picked up a child between his thumb and finger and swung him on his shoulders. A little girl had climbed up by the fur of his coat and wrapped her arm around his neck, they didn't even manage to reach half way around.

"Do the thing Giant, do the thing!" The little girl giggled like mad as she hung on as tight as she could. Elic tickled her with one finger, causing her to fall backwards in laughter. She tumbled down the back of his coat like it was a slide. But then the other children started shouting at him to 'do the thing'.

"Alright, alright you little demons. Give me a moment." Elic said through a massive grin. He reached his hand out through the air towards an open window. Slowly, the rays of light streaming through the window became brighter, and then they began to move.

Elic arranged several beams of light in the centre of the room. At first, Stark didn't know what he was doing, it looked like all he had done was cross bright yellow bars. And then the kids started to climb in them.

The beams of light were just as strong as any steel as the kids climbed on the makeshift jungle gym. The little ones that had still been trying to climb up Elic's coat ran over to join the other who were now dangling upside down on the bars, their shirts falling open to reveal their tummy's to the children ready to tickle them the moment it happened.

"Elic dear, how good it is to see you." And elderly woman wrapped her arms around Elic the best she could. Elic patted her on the back with one hand, while he controlled the beams of harden light for the young kids.

"Granny Anne," Elic said. "As promised, I made a thousand Lein this month." Elic pressed the money into Granny's palm. The old lady nodded as vigorously as her neck would let her. "Thank you, dear, I simply don't know what we would do without you. Now, who is this handsome young man you brought in here with you today?"

"Granny!" Elic protested, but Stark smiled in amusement.

"You know, my daughter at the desk is single you know." Elic rolled his eyes. Stark held up the bracelet he had been issued for the celebration happening currently. Granny sighed. "All the good men have already been Picked, what is a woman to do." Granny then turned to Elic and began to tell him all about the new kids, the old ones, the ones that had left, and the ones that had come back. Allowing Stark the chance to slip away, but before he left he took one last look at the little gym the kids were playing on and smiled.

* * *

Stark entered the bar from the street and was immediately slammed by the smell of booze and smoke. People crowded the walkway as every seat had already been taken by couples enjoying Choosing Day. A thin layer of smoke hung loosely around the ceiling, only moved by the slow moving fan blades.

In the back, sitting at a dimly lit poker table, was Lucas shuffling the cards for the next game while a new glass of scotch was delivered to him by a waitress. He flicked the cards in an arc over his head with the satisfying clicking the cards made as they flew out of one hand and into the other. When all the cards had landed in his right hand he spread them out across the table, face down. With a flick of his wrist, the line of cards flipped over to show everyone their faces. Another flick of his hand and the cards flipped over towards him and he scooped them into one deck again. Suddenly he held his arms out wide and began fire the cards at the table rapidly. Even though the cards were coming out of each hand, they still landed in the same spot on the table roughly making a new deck. Lucas took this new deck and gave it a more mundane shuffle, bridged, and then deftly deal a hand to everyone at the table.

Including Stark.

"So, I take your good at this game?" Stark asked. Lucas stared at him evenly.

"I don't need to be good, I can read a face and hear a heartbeat across the room. People don't play against me to win, they play to prove they can bluff without me noticing." Stark smiled.

"Then how about a wager?" Lucas raised an eyebrow. "I'm putting together a team, and I want you on it." Lucas looked at him for a long moment, then took a sip of scotch.

"If you can put all these chips," Lucas pointed at the pile in front of him, "in front of you, then I go with you." Stark nodded and pulled out a one-hundred Lein card and handed it to the person handling the chips. Soon as Stark had his pile of chips in front of him he looked at Lucas and smiled. There was a glint in his silver eyes as all emotions ended and Lucas frowned.

* * *

"I hope you didn't come for your weapons," Tecaelis told him. "I told you I won't be able to finish them until tomorrow."

"No," Stark told him. "I actually came to see if you would be interested to join my permanent Grimm Control unit?" Tecaelis seemed amused at the thought.

"Is he on it." Tecaelis pointed at a very disgruntled Lucas standing behind him. "Because he doesn't seem very happy and I'd rather not get shot when I'm not looking."

"He is just upset that I cleared him out at the poker table." Tecaelis grinned at that, making Lucas scowl even harder.

"So you want me to give up the job I'm not prepared for, stressed out about, and am only beginning to figure out how things work for the same, similar job in the field? Only this time it's permanent, I only engineer weapons for you, and have access to resources I wouldn't otherwise? Hm, I'll have to think about it." Tecaelis stroked his non-existent beard sarcastically as he pretended to think about it. "Sounds great, now if you'll excuse me, I have a date." Stark and Lucas shared a look.

"A date with who?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, this young Royal, she just inherited two villages in the far east and took an interest when she saw me on the dance floor." Lucas and Stark just smiled and kept silent. Tecaelis frowned when they didn't press for details. "What? What are you smiling at." Lucas rolled his eyes and turned away. Stark chuckled and said,

"Schnee, no Royal ever goes for any man less than an officer. The fact she is talking to you means she is more likely into women anyway and is just trying to keep up appearances." Tecaelis' mouth fell open.

"T-That's not true! We were just talking about possible ways to get to the Dust in the west!" Lucas gestured into the restaurant they had pulled Tecaelis from.

"Then where is she, genius?"

"She's right-" Tecaelis frozen. "She left. She just… Left." Stark patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, you didn't have much of a chance anyway. Take my advice and wait to marry someone with a lower status than you, that way you get to keep your last name." Tecaelis just gaped at the empty seat as Stark and Lucas walked away, one of them snickering.


	11. Chapter 11

" _But unfortunately, one Queen saw this and took steps to prevent it. She saw the inequality and tried to force a new world, one where everyone is equal."_

Stark barely had the door open wide enough to stick his foot through it when a black haired ball barreled into him, nearly knocking him to the floor.

"Dad! Dad! Guess what I learned since you've been gone?" Asty shouted gleefully at his father, practically jumping up and down in excitement. Stark held his stomach as his aura healed the bruise that had grown there and groaned,

"Your semblance?" Asty made a face, a little put off that his father guessed. But immediately brightened as he said,

"It sooo cool! I just run really really fast and I break everything in my way! It just- just- just- explodes in like a million pieces!"

"I can see that." Stark said as he pushed into the room and seeing a freshly painted wall. In an armchair, nestled in the far corner of the red room, was his older daughter. Her green eyes fluttered back and forth as she read room a book she held carefully in her lap.

"A good book Jane?" She didn't look up from the book as she flipped to the next page. "Jane?" No response. Stark held out his hand and a shield distorted her view of the pages. She looked up and blinked, taking a moment to register her surroundings. Then a thin smile appeared on her lips.

"Father, your back." Stark nodded, slightly amused. Jane glanced down at her book and then hesitantly, then rose from her chair and strode across the room and gave her father a hug. He stroked her wavy black hair.

"Where is your mother at? And what about Jadum and Cler?" Stark swallowed when he mentioned Jadum. Jane pulled away from Stark and gestured above her.

"Jades is taking another nap, he has been doing much better lately. Mom is still at work, you know how Choosing Day is." Then she frowned. "But… Cler left for basic training last week, they said that they need him despite The Picking." Stark's smiled sadly and he nodded. He turned fifteen two weeks ago and was whisked off to basic training. A few weeks and he would get back and be in the reserves until he turned seventeen, then after his first Picking he would start going on tour. Seeing the Grimm, training for his job, fighting to get up command chain so he wasn't thrown out when he turned twenty-eight. Stark knew the routine well, but it was better than working in the mines. Anything was better than working in the mines.

Cler's twin sister, Jane, turned as the door opened and Ellena slowly walked in. Stark smiled widely as his wife came in the door… her belly swollen up like there was a large ball under her shirt. She regarded Stark with her cool green eyes briefly and then threw her arms around him.

Stark wrapped his arms around his wife as tight as he dared. He could feel her pregnant belly pushing against him as he held her. They stood there for a minute, not saying anything for a long moment. They were only interrupted by a small child still carrying his blanket came down the stairs and looked at the two of them.

"Mom? Dad? What's going on?" Ellena broke free of Stark grasp and gave Jadum a tired smile.

"Nothing dear, come here." Ellena slowly lowered herself into her armchair as the three-year-old clambered up to her. Clearly, they had done this before as Jadum manoeuvred himself in a comfortable position around her belly. Ellena stroked her child's hair and leaned her head back and closed her eye. She looked very tired from the circles under her eyes and hair uncombed black hair. He seemed like a normal child on the surface, but if you looked closer it was easy to see something was wrong.

His eyes were bloodshot, his skin had a yellow tint to it, and his joints were swelling. Every so often he would cough and a bit of blood would come out. Still, it was better than when Stark saw him last.

"How were your missions?" She asked without opening her eyes. Jane had found a seat on a couch in the room and was pretending to read, but she moved closer and leaned forward to listen to his answer. Asty jumped onto his father's shoulders and began shouting,

"Yeah, Dad! Tell us, tell us! Did you kill a lot of Grimm? Did you take down a Goliath? Ooo, did take on a horde King Tijitsu all by yourself? That would be awesome!" Stark reached up and pulled Asty from his shoulders before setting him down on the floor.

"Well, nothing quite like that. But I didn't meet some interesting people. Now tell me, have you heard of Elic Sheildbreaker?"

After Asty bombarded Stark with facts about Elic, his weight, the number of grenades he carried, the secret compartments in his armour, his semblance, his best fights, how many action figures he had, competitions he had won, his duel with one of the famous Queen's Guard, how he took down a Leviathan, how he was one of the only three non-Hunter's to ever be included in Mantle's Action Heros comic, and how the collectable, glow in the dark, Dust powered, mechanical, platinum-edition, scale model of Elic was the only figure he was missing from his collection; Stark could conclude that Asty had, in fact, heard of Elic Sheildbreaker.

All the same, he son was more than excited to hear about their epic fight with Harpies and Goliaths. To Stark's surprise, Lucas also had a bit of a reputation. Though, nothing quite as extreme of 'the most awesomest Grimm fighting guy ever'. Although, Lucas, only know as 'Sniper Black' appeared here and there among several issues Action Heros as a support for the hero being featured. Stark suspected that Mantle cut out most of everyone involved in the event the comic described so it seemed like the 'hero' did things all by themselves. That was probably more of a testament to Lucas' usefulness than anything.

Eventually, Asty put his shoes on and practically flew out the door as he talked endlessly about who he was going to tell his friends that his father fought with not only The Sheildbreaker but also Sniper Black. Stark sighed and sunk into the couch in the room. Jane disappeared into her room, no doubt to finish the book she had, Ellena had fallen asleep with Jadum nestled between her and the chair.

Stark looked out the window at the rest of the city. Choosing Day was officially only one day, but the celebrations tended to last a whole week. The city was glowing with bright lights. Even the streets were so brightly lit for the celebration, so brightly lit that it was almost impossible to tell the sun had set. Music could be heard pouring in from the city. For a fleeting moment, Stark wondered if Tecaelis had ever found his date or found a new girl in the celebrations. If Lucas went back to clearing the people at the bar out or went to go get ready for the mission. If Elic stayed playing with the children at the orphanage or tried to get Picked.

Stark shook his head free of those thoughts and rose from his chair. He grabbed his bag and started towards the door.

"Leaving already?" Ellena asked from the chair. Stark stopped and turned towards her. A sad smile crawled across his face.

"I have one more mission, then I'll be home for a while. Just one more I promise." Ellena let out a small laugh.

"On Choosing Day and everything. Will they ever let you take a break?" Stark leaned over and kissed her gently. Ellena smiled against his lips and opened her eyes finally. Stark saw his own reflection in her green eyes.

"I made 2nd Lieutenant Ellena. Jadum can get treated now, everything is going to work out." She smiled and pulled the toddler close to her.

"That's amazing. Our son… he is going to be okay." She bent her head down and touched it against Jadum's head. Stark nodded turned to leave, but he stopped at the doorway.

"Ellena… What conscription did Cler take?" Ellena frowned slightly but didn't stop completely smiling.

"He took the seven years. I told him he didn't need to do more because you took the twenty years. He wanted to do more, but shouldn't have to go for longer than he needs to." Stark nodded in relief.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Stark reassured her one more time as he moved out the door. "Just one more mission," he muttered.


	12. Chapter 12

" _But this Queen didn't understand the difference between equality and oppression."_

"Honestly it wasn't difficult. He can definitely take the recoil and carry the ammo, it was just a matter of mounting it on his arm." Tecaelis gesture to the long barrel he built into Elic's right arm. Lucas face palmed as Tecaelis held up fifty millimeter shell and slid in into the chamber as Elic grinned wildly.

"Schnee, from now on you ask me before you make Elic anymore explosive." Stark stated dryly. Elic sauntered up to a small stall on the firing range. He got down on one knee and held up his new arm cannon at the target at the far end of the range.

"What's the range on this thing anyway?" Tecaelis shrugged.

"It depends on how high you hold it. At best you might get half a kilometer out of it, more than enough to hit that tinman at the end of the field." Elic grinned and two fingers curled into his palm and hooked around the rings built into his gauntlet. A second before it fired Lucas' aura flared and deafened the area, sparing everyone from losing their hearing. Elic's looked like a normal person shooting a high power shotgun as for the first time, Stark his entire dealing with the recoil. The target at the end of the range was now just a stub a metal that held the target. The two targets next to it looked like they would fall at any moment. The concrete wall behind it had a deep hole bored into it now.

"Fun," Elic said as he admired the mini-artillery cannon. "Hey, Lucas. My anti-mech gun beat your anti-mech gun." Lucas pursed his lips.

"Mine is a high precision, high powered, rifle capable of shooting a target four kilometers away. It is a product almost a year of intense development. Your is a cheap metal cylinder with a lump of lead stuff down the front of it, hastily made over the course on one night." Lucas gave him a look like he was personally insulted by the mere existence of the gun.

"You're just jealous I can put a gods-be-damned cannon on my arm!" Tecaelis was pouring over the design papers he had sketched as the two went at it.

"Hm… I might be able to increase the caliber without risking damage to the gun when fired. I'll have to toy with design, might need more quality materials to deal with the power. Maybe I could develop another way to reloaded it. Drum? No, too bulky. Maybe a magazine or chain feed. Hm, that would be more likely to damage…" Tecaelis began to murmur to himself about different automatic loading systems and how difficult the firing mechanism makes things. Suddenly a courier round the corner with a heavy package in his hand.

"I'm looking for Specialist Tecaelis Schnee and 2nd Lieutenant Stark Ironwood." Tecaelis practically jumped up in joy and ran for the package. The courier blinked as the package was covered in purple light and flew out of his hands and went to met Tecaelis half way. Stark shot him a look then shook his head.

"I am Lieutenant Ironwood."

"Ah, then I was told to tell you your transport is ready and as per usual your debriefing with happen via recording as you near the destination." Stark nodded and fished out a bit of Lien to toss to the courier. The man caught it and went to find his next delivery.

"Ha, I knew it would work." Tecaelis said in triumph as he held up a jet black mace and a bright silver gun. Tecaelis' semblance floated a belt over to Stark. It was decorated in black nad silver pieces with plenty of places to clip gear and ammo. Stark took the mace in his hands gave it a quick swing. It was longer than the forearm and the head had six blades like edges placed around the head. A gentle push from his aura caused the aura engine within to hum and whirl. The mace exploded outward became a spear with its head became a sharp point of six separate blades, their sharp points shining with silver. Stark gave a curt nod and switched it back to the mace before hooking it into place on his belt.

Next, he held up the gun. Its silver coat was almost hard to look at in the sun. The heavy machine gun had a chain clip extending out the side of it into a small box mounted to its body. As Stark maneuvered it in his hands to look over it made satisfying clicks, a statement to how heavy and complex it was. Stark turned it down range and opened fire on one of the targets Elic didn't destroy. He only held the trigger for two seconds, but over thirty round chewed-up the target. The recoil causes a clear hole in between the center of its chest and its head like Elic held it in his fingers and tore it like paper.

"You would not _believe_ what strings I had to pull to get you that." Tecaelis said as he admired the silver weapon. "I had to throw your name and rank around, pressure a few people, threaten to telekinetically crush a guy private parts, mention the mission is almost directly from the Queen, even use Elic's name one time." Tecaelis smirked. "The guy seemed like he really wanted to create something better than Elic's grenade machine gun." Elic snorted but didn't say anything.

"All in all, some of my best work yet. I stayed up all night just trying to make it work, on only took a break to make Elic's arm cannon. The brain needs a rest like that." Tecaelis looked up like he could see his brain back there. "A single clip of one-hundred armour piercing rounds." Tecaelis held out another silver clip with a chain black bullets sticking out of it. "If you pull out the tripod the clip can be removed in place of Tecaelis used his semblance to levitate three massive bundles of bullets. "Five-hundred in just one of these. Elic, you're going to have to carry these." Elic grunted and opened a hidden pocket in the back of his armour. The three clips fell into the back of it with a hollow sounding thunk. Tecaelis made a face. "Just how large is that secret compartment." Elic just smirked at him walked away to start filling his aura injectors. Tecaelis rolled his eyes and turn back to Elic and his gun.

"And finally, its other form." Stark reached down to activate the aura engine because Tecaelis caught his arm with his semblance and hissed, "Not here! The things I put in the gun might even be legal. I had to call in favours all the way in _Vale_ just to get the tech behind it to work. Just know that that gun will eat bullets like bloody candy! And that other form could go through the entire kingdoms Dust supply and still want more. Not to mention when you try to run it on your aura." Stark nodded, and for a moment it looked like that would be it. But then he smiled and said,

"My anti-mech gun is better than both of your anti-mech guns." Lucas gave him a poisonous look.

"His is a glorified slingshot. Your is an inefficient, bullet-wasting, inaccurate, wanna-t'ah-be gatling gun with a paint job to make sure every Grimm within ten kilometers sees ya. y'all don't have crap on _Priest._ " Stark and Tecaelis looked at each other.

" _Priest_? Really?" Lucas smiled slyly.

"Because she'll make you pray." Tecaelis face-palmed and Stark just shook his head. Stark examined the gun and began collapsing it. Too many moving parts already to let the aura engine to fold it up, Stark guess. The barrel, clip, and stock all collapsed into a more compact lump of silver steel that hooked in the back of the belt, just below where his back would rest.

"Alright, every gear up and get ready. We leave in hours."

"Why two hours?" Tecaelis asked. "We could be ready in fifteen minutes, tops."

"That was before you gave a weapon will need a lot of Dust to power it." Tecaelis furrows his brow in confusion.

"You're going to get them to clear you for more Dust for a weapon that might be illegal for you to own."

"Something like that." Stark said as he left.

"Oh… Oh!" Tecaelis said as it finally clicked.

The entrance of the mine was just like how Stark remember it when he was taught what would have been his future job as a child. The elevator down was covered in a fine grey dust. Hundreds of armed guards patrolled the area, particularly around the minecarts full of Dust and ore. Workers still worked emptying those mine carts into thick and secure metal shipping containers. People still collapsed in between one job to from another and were hauled away just as quick. Either to return tomorrow or not for another few months. And women still sat in their offices in the building surrounding the mine entrance.

Stark found Salt in his old hideout in between two office buildings. After proving to the unsuspecting bodyguard patrolling the alley Stark was allowed to slip in the forgotten basement through a rusty down built into the ground. Salt wore grey clothing that had probably once been white with his feet one on the desk. He was talking through a highly coveted radio. Not even Stark had a radio capable of cutting through the ambient interference. And as far as Stark knew, Salt's radio might just hitch a ride on the powerful military signals.

"My gods," Salt said in disbelief. "Is it really Ironpick back to see me?" Salt's face split into a grin. "I thought we lost you to the military hippies years ago!" Salt threw his arms around Stark in a thick hug. Stark smiled and let him. "My, my, look at you." Salt said, hold Stark away from him. "Would you look at you. What do them marks there mean?"

"Means I'm a 2nd Lieutenant, Salt." Salt gave him a large smile.

"If your father could see you now… you two were the best pick swingers I ever had! Been have trouble get anyone half as good as you." Salt chuckled. "I remember Ole' Ironpick- er, your father, not you- swinging through three times as many blocks as a whole team of men. Of course, I remember you running packages three times as big twice as fast when you were small too. Something about squeezing into them small alleys no one else can use." Stark took Salt's hands off him but didn't stop smiling.

"I remember. It really wasn't that long ago. But, how's the illegal smuggling going anyway?"

"Better than ever! Ever since that new mine opened up in the west we have been squirrelling away more Dust than ever. And the kingdom herself in letting up on us. Got us a nice deal where they leave us alone if I don't trade to Vale, and even more so whenever I send things over to Mistral." Stark frowned but shook his head before he got distracted by his thoughts.

"I'm heading out on another mission and I got a new gun that going to need some fire power." Stark gestured to the collapsed machine gun strapped to his belt. Salt whistled when he saw the silver beauty.

"Have you named it yet? Bad luck for a gun like that not to have a name." Stark shook his head. "Ah well, it's gonna be expensive. The back alleys of Vale just released a new chem. Rampage I think they're calling it. They found a way to combine red Dust and blue Dust together somehow. Every dealer with his salt is trying to get a foothold in the new market." Stark nodded and reached into his pocket.

"Then I'll take yellow Dust." Stark dropped a small pile red Lien cards on his desk. Salt swallowed when he saw the bills. With a shaky hand he reached out and picked them up.

"Heh, I take it military life is treating you well?" Salt quickly put the red cards inside his grey coat. "I can get you fourteen kilos of the powder and a dozen crystals."

"Forget the crystals and just get me thirty kilos of the powder." Stark did an about face and started walk out when Salt called out after him.

"I meant what I said lil Ironpick, your father would have been proud. Proud your doing better, proud you didn't end up… down there." Stark nodded.

"I know he would have been."


End file.
